International Quality Awards: FAQs

You don’t need to be a member of the CQI/IRCA to apply for the awards, with the exception of Quality Professional of the Year which requires you to be a chartered member or chartered fellow of the CQI. All other awards are open to everyone, as long as you meet the criteria.

The Emerging Talent, Quality Professional of the Year and CQI Volunteering Impact awards are free for to enter. Corporate partners of the CQI can also enter any category for free, as a benefit of their partnership with us. 

For all other entries, there is a fee of £299 +VAT which should be paid using a debit or credit card at the point of submission. Please note that entries which are submitted without the fee will be disqualified.

We are unable to issue invoices as this often results in delayed payments. 

Yes, you or your organisation can apply for more than one award but please ensure that you meet the criteria. 

Make sure your entry applies specifically to the category, you should not submit identical applications for multiple categories as the criteria will not be the same. For those awards which have a fee attached, the fee is per entry.

These awards are the only two which have eligibility criteria to meet so please consider carefully which one best suits where you currently are in your career. 

The Emerging Talent award is for people who are in the first five years of their quality career. The Quality Professional of the Year is for people who are further along in their quality careers and who have chartered status with the CQI.

You should not apply for both as it is impossible to be eligible for both. If you are unsure which category is best suited to you, you are welcome to contact the CQI for guidance. 

Yes, you can but you will need to let us know that you are doing so when submitting your IQA entry so that we know that we can consider your entry.

If you are a CQI member who wants to apply for a regrade to chartered status, please contact [email protected]. If you are not yet a member, contact [email protected].

Applying for chartered status can be a lengthy process, so you should ensure that you allow enough time for this alongside your award application. You must have been awarded chartered status by the start of the interview stage (March 2025) for us to proceed with your award application.

The CQI Volunteering Impact award has a different application process to the other awards.

Volunteers can nominate themselves or each other. They can also be nominated by the CQI staff. There is no interview stage for this award, but there is an opportunity for the CQI and IRCA membership to vote on which activity has delivered the greatest impact.

Full details on this award and the judging process can be found on our awards portal.

The Outstanding Contribution award is an honourary award which is chosen by a specialist panel of quality professionals, and led by the CQI Chief Executive, Vince Desmond. We do not accept external nominations for this award and would suggest that you consider submitting an application to the Quality Professional of the Year category instead.  

Each criteria carries the same number of points – 10 points for your approach and 10 points for your results. We suggest you split your word count equally over each of the criteria to give yourselves the best chance of getting the maximum marks. Remember, your supporting slides are also there to help you. For example, rather than using your word count to describe how your team is structured, you could include an organisation chart on one of your slides and simply signpost to it within your written piece. Any words over the allowance will not be considered when marking your application. 

The number of slides you are given (six for all categories apart from Quality Organisation of the Year which allows eight) gives you the opportunity to provide supporting information for each section plus one spare slide for any extra detail. Do not use your slide to add more text – if you do this, it will not be marked by the judges. The slides should bring your application to life. Include graphs, diagrams, images, organisation charts – anything which supports your written work and provides evidence to back it up. Please do not overcrowd the slides with lots of tiny text – if the judges cannot read it, they will not score it.  

The slides work best when the applicant refers to them in their text. These cross-references are key to telling your story and to achieving a good score. For example, add “see slide 1” in your text to show the judges where to look.  

If relevant, you can make reference to them, of course, but do not waste words by including text from the standard in your application. There are no marks for providing information that is in the public domain and which is not about what you, or your team, contributed. 

No, it is not. We do require the written application to be in English, but it does not have to be perfect English as long as the meaning is not lost. If your application is shortlisted, you are welcome to invite an interpreter to join you for the interview if you would like to. The awards are international and we welcome and recognise contributions from across the world.  

Shortlisted applicants will be notified by the end of February and invited to attend a virtual interview (via Teams or Zoom) with the panel of judges. You will be given an opportunity to present to the judges and they will then ask questions to further understand your application. This is not a chance to add anything new, it should be based on the application you have already submitted.  

Judges normally interview 3-4 candidates per category. Winners will be announced at the live presentation ceremony at Quality Live on Thursday 19 June 2025.  

The exact schedule of interviews is yet to be confirmed, but they will take place between 10 - 28 March 2024. Please ensure that you or representatives from your team or organisation can be available during this period to attend the interview online. The CQI will try to give at least two weeks' notice to shortlisted applicants and will be able to accommodate different time zones and variations to the working week. 

The awards will take place at Quality Live in London on Thursday 19 June. Tickets to the event will be available from mid-March 2025. 

If you have a question which has not been answered here or in the application guide, contact us at [email protected] and a member of the team will be happy to help.