Nominations are Open for the Association Centre of Excellence Awards
Celebrating the programs, products, and services that are raising the bar for associations across Canada. Is your organization’s work ready to be recognized?
Every year, association professionals across Canada quietly do extraordinary work – designing programs that transform member value, building governance structures that stand as models for the sector, and innovating in ways that ripple far beyond their own organizations. The CSAE Association Centre of Excellence Awards exist to surface that work, celebrate it, and share it with the broader community.
Nominations for the 2026 awards are now open. This is your organization’s opportunity to step forward, own the impact you’ve made, and inspire others to reach higher.
What is the Association Centre of Excellence Award?
The CSAE Association Centre of Excellence Award is one of the most meaningful forms of recognition in Canada’s association sector. It honours outstanding team achievements and organizational initiatives that advance association excellence, and it does so in direct alignment with the competencies of the Certified Association Executive (CAE®) program.
This is not an award for an individual. It recognizes the collective effort of teams who have done something worth emulating: a program that moved the needle on member engagement, a product that solved a persistent challenge, a service that elevated the profession. If your organization has delivered results like these between January 2025 and the date of submission, you’re eligible to compete.
Recipients of this award have demonstrated excellent leadership, structure and governance of their association; and/or the planning and execution of internal, external and integrated programs that elevate member value and engage the association community.
Why your organization should nominate
It can feel uncomfortable to put your own work forward for recognition. But submitting a nomination is about far more than winning a trophy; it is an act of generosity toward the wider sector.
Share what works
When your organization submits a nomination, you’re contributing a knowledge-sharing resource for the entire Canadian association community. The initiatives recognized through this program become touchstones; evidence-based examples that other professionals can learn from, adapt, and build upon.
Validate your team’s efforts
Great work often goes unacknowledged internally. The nomination process itself – gathering evidence, building the narrative, quantifying outcomes – is a powerful exercise in recognizing the dedication that went into your initiative. Winning brings that recognition to a national stage.
Strengthen your organization’s profile
Being recognized as a Centre of Excellence award recipient sends a signal to current and prospective members, funders, and partners: this is an organization that takes excellence seriously. It reinforces your reputation as a leader and innovator in the sector.
Earn CAE® Continuing Professional Development credits
Completing a nomination application earns the applicant CAE® Continuous Professional Development (CPD) credit: up to 2 hours per two-year reporting period (1 hour per complete application, maximum of two submissions per year).
Fuel a culture of continuous improvement
The rigorous self-reflection required to build a strong nomination -measuring return on investment, identifying what you’d do differently, articulating your theory of change – makes your organization better, regardless of the outcome.
Recognition isn’t about ego. It’s about making what works visible, so more organizations can do the same.
What judges are looking for:
Each application is reviewed independently by two to four volunteer evaluators before they meet as a team to agree on a final score. Submissions are evaluated on their own merits, not ranked against each other. The judging criteria reflect the full complexity of excellent association work:
- Leadership A clear articulation of need, outstanding strategy from planning through evaluation, and genuine investment in the sector.
- Creativity & Innovation Creative and innovative solutions that add value and advance what association excellence looks like.
- Equity, Diversity & Inclusion A demonstrated commitment to EDI woven through the initiative’s design and delivery.
- Collaboration & Teamwork Evidence of how collaboration shaped the approach and contributed to a successful outcome.
- Continuous Improvement A focus on best practices, benchmarking, ROI measurement, and the willingness to learn from previous attempts.
- Achievements Tangible impact, outcomes, and benefits that advance the association community and add to the sector’s shared knowledge base.
- CAE® Competencies Clear alignment with one or more of the CSAE competencies for association executives.
Are you eligible?
Eligibility is intentionally broad. To qualify, you need to meet the following conditions:
- The program, product, or service demonstrated successful results between January 2025 and the date of submission. (Long-term strategies initiated earlier are eligible if a major milestone or measurement occurred within this window.)
- The applicant must be a current CSAE member.
- Your organization may submit a maximum of two entriesin any given year.
- If your organization worked with a consultant, that’s welcome, but focus your nomination on what was done differently to address your organization’s unique needs.
Please note: nominations from current CSAE Board of Directors members and current Awards and Recognition Committee members are not eligible.
How to apply: a step-by-step overview
The application is designed to be substantive without being burdensome. Here’s what to prepare:
- Record a 10-minute video presentation: Using the provided PowerPoint template, create a video overview of your program, product, or service. Use Zoom or another platform. Be specific – lead with facts, metrics, and evidence. The video must not exceed 10 minutes.
- Compile your support materials: Pull together materials that bring your work to life – screenshots, publications, articles, training materials, speeches, ads. Combine everything into a single PDF, no longer than 5 pages. Include a brief description for each item explaining how it connects to the success of your initiative.
- Submit through the awards portal; Log in and submit your nomination via the CSAE Awards portal before the July 5, 2026 deadline. Confirm your membership status before submitting.
Before you submit, review the official judging guidelines and the evaluation rubric so your submission speaks directly to what evaluators are assessing.
Deadline: July 5, 2026
Nominations opened May 25. Don’t leave your organization’s story untold.
Your work deserves to be seen.
The nomination window is open now through July 5, 2026. It takes courage to put your organization forward, but the sector is richer for it when you do.
Questions? Connect with Lexie Bilhete, Engagement Specialist at CSAE · lexie@csae.com
