Criteria

The PMI PMO of the Year Award is evaluated through a rigorous review process.

The criteria below guide how evaluator teams assess the quality, impact, and execution of submitted projects. While the specific scoring methodology and weighting are used internally to ensure consistency and fairness, the following definitions outline what is evaluated during the selection of finalists and winners:

PMO's Evolution (20%)

• Strategic approach, consistency, adaptability, and leadership development.
• The journey that shaped the PMO's current state.

Client Service Excellence (15%)

• Range and suitability of services offered to clients and stakeholders.
• How well these services meet organizational needs and performance expectations.

Adherence to Best Practices (15%)

• Methodologies, techniques, and commitment to continuous improvement.
• Alignment with industry standards.

Innovation & Adaptability (15%)

• Innovative solutions to overcome challenges and achieve results.
• Implementation of creative strategies and technologies.

Community Engagement (10%)

• Fostering project management community and organizational culture.
• Building collaboration, transparency, and accountability.

Value Creation and Impact (25%)

• Tangible benefits delivered to customers, stakeholders, and the organization.
• Influence on organizational culture and maturity, senior management engagement and sponsorship levels.

Award Rules & Conditions

• Nominations that are submitted incomplete, incorrectly formatted, late, or in a language other than English will not be considered.
• By submitting the application form, your organization commits to participating in the competition, even if the required video has not yet been sent.
  • Failure to submit the video or withdrawing from the competition after submitting the form will result in your organization being listed as one of the nominees but automatically forfeiting all matches in the group stage.
  • Furthermore, your organization will be disqualified from participating in the subsequent two editions of the PMI Awards.
• PMI reserves the right not to present the award for a particular year in which the evaluations completed indicate that nominations and supporting materials did not sufficiently demonstrate the stated criteria.
• After submission, nominations are reviewed for eligibility.
  • If a nomination is deemed ineligible, the nomination will be declined.
  • Declined nominations cannot be revised or resubmitted during the same award season.
• If a nominee is selected as one of the regional winners and thus a finalist for the World PMO of the Year Award, it agrees to the condition of participating in the PMI Global Summit.
  • As part of this participation, the nominee is expected to conduct a session at the summit.

The PMI PMO of the Year Award follows a multi-stage evaluation process.

All submissions are rigorously reviewed by qualified volunteers and subject matter experts, leading to the selection of finalists and the selection of a winner.

Step 1 — Nomination Stage
Designate a Lead Nominator. This individual must be the PMO Leader (Director, Manager, Coordinator) of the nominated organization, must be an official representative of the PMO, and their email address must be associated with the nominated organization's domain ensuring that the nomination is formally recognized and submitted by an authorized individual. The Lead Nominator will act as the primary point of contact for all communications regarding the nomination. Complete and submit a one-page application form to initiate the application process containing essential details about the nominee:

• Organization Name
• Contact Email Addresses
• Industry
• City and Country
• Website
• LinkedIn Profile
• High-Quality Logo
• Lead Nominator Information
• PMO Sponsor Information

Step 2 — Video Presentation
Each nominee must submit a video presentation as part of the application process.

Step 3 — National Qualifier
To ensure balanced representation across countries, a National Qualifier stage is conducted when a country has multiple PMO nominations.

• Countries with one or two nominated PMOs automatically advance all nominees to the Global Group Stage.
• Countries with more than two nominated PMOs must participate in a National Qualifier to determine which PMOs advance.
• FThe structure of the National Qualifier varies depending on the number of PMOs in each country and may include group-based round-robin formats or direct matchups.
• A maximum of two PMOs per country may advance to the Global Group Stage.

• Each group follows a round-robin format, where each PMO competes against all other PMOs in its group.
• The Global Group Stage is non-eliminatory. All participating PMOs advance to the next phase of the competition.
• The primary purpose of this stage is to establish performance-based rankings (seeding), which will determine matchups in the Regional Knockout Stage.
• Group rankings are determined based on match results.

Step 5 — Regional Knockout Stage
Following the Global Group Stage, all PMOs advance to the Regional Knockout Stage.

In this phase, PMOs are grouped by region (Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East, and the Americas) and compete in a single-elimination format, where a loss results in elimination from the competition.

• Matchups are determined based on performance in the Global Group Stage. Each PMO is assigned a regional seed, which defines its position in the knockout bracket.
• Where more than one PMO from the same country qualifies, they will compete against each other in the first round. This ensures that only one PMO per country advances to later stages within each region.
• After applying same-country matchups, remaining pairings are determined according to seeding, with higher-seeded PMOs facing lower-seeded PMOs.
• The structure of the knockout stage may vary by region depending on the number of participating PMOs. Some regions may include preliminary rounds, while others may begin at later stages such as quarterfinals or semifinals.

Each region concludes with a Regional Final, where the winner is recognized as the Regional PMO of the Year.

Step 6 — World Final
The World Final brings together the five regional winners, who now hold the title of World Finalists, to compete for the ultimate honor: the World PMO of the Year Award.

• In this final phase, the regional champions face rigorous evaluation to determine which PMO has demonstrated the highest levels of innovation, strategic impact, and excellence on a global scale.
• The winner will be announced during the PMI Global Summit.

Video Guidelines

The video presentation must last strictly between 30 to 40 minutes. Videos not adhering to this time frame will not be accepted.

• The video format should be MP4 or AVI as they are generally preferred for their wide compatibility.
• Formats can vary and might include PowerPoint-style presentations with voiceover or other effective formats.
  • Narration through voiceover is acceptable.
• Pay special attention to the quality of audio capture for clear and intelligible narration.
• The video presenter does not need to be the lead nominee.
• There is no specific template for the presentation, but using a sans-serif font of at least 14-point size is recommended for readability.
• Your video must be in English. This is crucial as they will be evaluated by an international Judging Committee that may not be familiar with unique acronyms and terms specific to your organization, industry, or country.
• The expectation for the video is that your PMO is presented like what would be done in a virtual conference.
  • There is no requirement for professional production or sophistication that would require high investment in video production.
  • The evaluation focuses on content rather than production sophistication.
• The applicant is fully responsible for recording and producing the video presentation.
  • PMI does not offer technical support for this task.
• PMI doesn’t cover any costs for video preparation.

Video Submission Guidelines

Video submissions must be sent via download link to [email protected] by the stated deadline. Videos received after the deadline will not be considered.

Video Format and Hosting:
Ensure that your video is in a compatible format and hosted on a reliable platform that allows for easy downloading.

File Size and Quality:
Check the file size and video quality before sending the link.

The video should be of high quality, both in terms of audio and visual elements, but also manageable in size for easy download and access.

Verification of Link:
Before submitting, verify that the link works correctly and that the video is accessible for download without any issues.

Backup Option:
It's advisable to have a backup copy of the video.

You can quickly provide an alternative if there are any issues with the link or file.

Email Confirmation:
After submitting your email, you can expect to receive a confirmation of receipt from the PMI PMO Awards team within five days.

This confirmation email will acknowledge that your submission has been successfully received.