Project Excellence Awards

Does your organisation deserve to be acknowledged for its excellent project (or programme) management achievements?
Would you like your project to be assessed by an international assessment team?
Do you want to improve your project management on the basis of feedback and benchmark information provided by an international assessment team?
Are you brave enough to enter an international competition celebrating excellence in projects and programmes?

IPMP organizes an annual international competition for projects and programmes presenting awards to teams that display and can prove great achievements in project and programme management. The IPMP Project Excellence Awards support project teams in their continuous improvement efforts. Guideline for the assessment is the IPMP Project Excellence Model® (IPMP PEM), described in the IPMP Project Excellence Baseline®. By rewarding teams that prove their success in the three IPMA PEM areas, IPMP recognizes and acknowledges excellent and innovative projects.

Why apply?

Important benefits of entering the IPMP Project Excellence Awards are:

The Feedback Report containing project management strengths and areas of improvement of your project, identified by the international assessment team. This information can support you in your continuous improvement efforts
Become part of the project excellence community. The Project Excellence Awards are handed out during an Award Gala that takes place at an IPMP Annual Conference. You can participate in dedicated Awards events, meeting previous and current finalists – also from the Achievement Awards – to present and discuss your project experiences
Promote your organisation internationally. The names of finalist organisations are published in all IPMP (online) media outlets, including the congress documentation and marketing materials, providing you an excellent opportunity to present your organisation in the global project management community. If you win an award, you can use the IPMP Project Excellence logo on your company documents
Celebrate your team and organisations’ achievements

Introduction to the IPMP Project Excellence Model

The IPMP Project Excellence Model (IPMP PEM) was introduced in 2016 as an updated version of the model that has been in place since 2002. The main purpose of the IPMA PEM is to provide guidance to organisations in assessing the ability of their projects and programmes to achieve project excellence. The model is used as the framework which is used for the Project Excellence assessment. The model is based on Total Quality Management and related models such as identifies three areas: People & Purpose, Processes & Resources and Project Results.

The People & Purposearea defines criteria that are considered the foundation of project excellence. The right people, led and supported by excellent leaders, all sharing a common vision for success, are crucial to drive project improvements and help the project to run and go beyond established standards.
The Processes & Resourcescriteria represent practices necessary to reinforce excellence through sound processes and adequate resources used in an efficient and sustainable way.
The Project Resultsarea defines excellence as the project management approach and its effects in terms of outstanding, sustainable results for all key stakeholders. This area complements the first two areas with necessary proof of excellent results as defined by the project stakeholders.

IPMP Project Excellence Award Application Process

A project team can apply for the IPMA Global Project Excellence Award by filling in an Application Report explaining its project management approach and results according to the criteria of the IPMA Project Excellence Model®. The Application Report constitutes a self-assessment that helps the project team to understand how to achieve success and to identify and use their strengths and improvement potential.

The Project Excellence Award Categories

The IPMA Global Project Excellence Award recognises projects and programmes in the following categories:

Small/Medium-Sized Project Categories

IT or Telecommunications
Construction or Engineering or Infrastructure
Change Management or Product or Development or Marketing
Social or Regional Development or Community Service
Applied Research

Large/Mega-Sized Projects Categories

Large-Sized Projects with a budget of $50-300 billion
Mega-Sized Projects with a budget greater than $200 billion

Project Operation Room (4 Awards)

PMO or PMU of the Year
Project Company of the year
Project Financing Company of the year
Project Insurance Company of the year

The Project Operation Room that has demonstrated superior organizational project management abilities by adding value to its organization through its support of successful strategic initiatives. The award recognizes a POR that has established a vision for value delivery and has had a positive and clear impact on business results.

Note: Submission based application and judging process for projects with a budget greater $50 billion and written application and site based judging process

How to prepare for the IPMP Project Excellence Award?

IPMP offers several trainings during which an applicant organisation or potential assessors can prepare for the Project Excellence Award. There are 3-day training for potential assessors, who would like to familiarise themselves with the IPMP Project Excellence Model or for applicants who want to prepare themselves to participate in the assessment process.

IPMP Project Excellence Award Process for Large and Mega (Sized Projects categories)

IPMP Project Excellence Award assessment consists of several steps involving an applicant organisation, a dedicated and qualified international assessment team and team of judges.

The applicant writes an Application Report that is submitted and assessed by a team of qualified assessors. Based on the Application Report, the assessors carry out an assessment individually on the basis of the IPMP Project Excellence Model® as well as together as team and write up a first report for the judges.
A Site Visit takes place in which the assessment team gathers additional information. Interviews with important stakeholders and a study of relevant documents are carried out and the assessment team prepares the second report for the judges.
A team of judges consisting of experienced project managers from the private and public sector, past winners and sponsors, analyses the assessment team’s intermediate and final results and decides which applicants qualify as Finalist. In a second meeting, the team of judges decides which Finalists are awarded a Bronze, Silver and Gold award in each award category. The winners are announced at an Awards Gala event.
All applicant organisations receive a Feedback Report from the assessment team containing a description of the decision taken by the team of judges and description of the strengths and areas for improvement for each of the IPMP Project Excellence Model criteria.

Project Excellence Award Assessors

The PE Award Assessors are the heart of the IPMP Project Excellence Award assessment process. For each project that applies for the award, a dedicated team of qualified international assessors is formed that assesses the project in accordance with the IPMP Project Excellence Model®. The assessors are all experienced professionals working in project management environments. They represent IPMP during the assessment process and are good ambassadors for the Project Excellence Awards.

Requirements for PE Award Assessors

In order to be eligible to become a PE Award Assessor, you should:

Complete the three-day assessment training successfully and receive a positive recommendation from the trainers (an active assessor needs to participate at least once every three years in this training or participate in as PE Assessment webinar).
Work as a professional in a project management environment
Be at least 30 years’ old
Have at least 5 years’ relevant experience as a project or programme manager or have at least 7 years of relevant experience as a project management consultant
Be a team player
Be flexible and open to new ways and procedures
Be sensitive to cultural diversity
Be reliable and diligent in carrying out all duties for all steps in the award process
Act in accordance with the Assessors Code of Conduct.

Benefits for PE Award Assessors

Benefits of becoming a PE Award Assessor:

Understand and be able to apply the IPMP Project Excellence Model
Gain practical experience in the application of the IPMA Project Excellence Model
Learn how to objectively assess a project team
Learn from peers and their international project management experiences
Become part of an international network of project management professionals
Receive recognition as a Project Excellence professional

These benefits are not only useful for your professional development, but also for your company and customers.

Appointment of PE Award Assessors

The IPMA Awards Coordinator, IPMA Vice President and IPMA Awards PMO yearly compose the assessment teams for each Award application from the pool of qualified assessors. They do this by taking into account various selection criteria ensuring a well-balanced mix of qualified people with different backgrounds and experiences representing various countries. Before announcing the assessment teams, the Awards PMO contacts the nominated assessors and ask them to confirm that they are available for the whole duration of the Assessment process. The Award Assessors then have to inform the Awards PMO that their local IPMA Member Association of which they are a member, supports their nomination. The number of qualified assessors that can be appointed to an assessment team depends on the number of award applications.

Principles for the appointment of PE Award Assessors

To qualify for the pool of potential assessors, you need to take a three-day PE Assessment training, pass the exam and receive a positive recommendation from the trainers. Active assessors are required to attend a three-day training course every five years. In addition, they should participate in an annual PE Award webinar to update their knowledge.
Those assessors who are not involved in an assessment in a specific year, must take part in a four-hour webinar to become eligible to join the pool of potential assessors again. Assessors who have a break of one year or more, are obliged to attend a three-day training course again, pass the exam and receive a positive recommendation from the trainers, in order to join the pool of potential assessors.

PE Award Assessor Duties

The PE Award Assessor is responsible to carry our several activities in the PE Award process. An indication of the activities and time necessary is:

Preparing for the PE Assessment training: 2-3 days (you need to do the homework in order to be able to be able to participate in the group discussions and working sessions)
PE Assessment Training: 3 days –
Individual assessment: 2-3 days
Team Virtual Meeting with the assessment team, including design of Judges Report 1: 0,5 day
Site visit: 3 to 4 days plus travel time (normally 0-5day preparation, 2-3 days Site Visit and 1 day wrap-up, including the compilation of Judges Report 2 and the Feedback Report)

PE Assessment Trainings

IPMA offers several trainings and webinars during which an applicant organisation or potential assessors can prepare for the Global Project Excellence Award.

Trainings for Applicants

Introduction to the PE Model and the Award Process Webinar: A one-hour marketing webinar describing the IPMP, the Project Excellence Awards and awards process serves to promote the PE Awards. This webinar is organised for a broad audience and can also be organised on an in-company basis on request.

PE Award Assessment Training: Three (3) days training for potential PE Award Assessors but also for the applicants who want to prepare themselves to participate in the assessment process. See the calendar at the bottom of this page.

Trainings for Assessors

PE Award Assessment Training: A three-day training is organised for potential PE Award Assessors who would like to understand and be able to apply the IPMP PEM. In addition, much attention is paid to the assessment process itself, including interviewing and reporting skills. Active PE Award Assessors are required to participate in this training at least every five years. There is a participation fee charged to participate in the training. For more details, see the calendar at the bottom of this page.

PE Assessment Webinar: PE Award Assessors who have participated in an assessment team in the previous year are requested to participate in this webinar to update their knowledge. Purpose of the webinar is to discuss lessons learnt from the assessment process in the previous years. This 4-hour webinar is meant to refresh the assessor’s knowledge of the IPMP PEM criteria, the assessment process and Team Lead Assessor and Assessor responsibilities. The webinar is free of charge. See the calendar at the bottom of this page.