PMI-CWCC

Project of the Year Awards

PMI-CWCC's flagship recognition program, celebrating extraordinary project achievement across Western Canada.

Overview
Key Dates
Why Enter?
Explore Awards
FAQs
Overview

Recognizing excellence in delivery, innovation & impact

A regional standard for project management excellence.

The Project of the Year (POTY) Awards shine a spotlight on the organizations and professionals raising the standard of project delivery across British Columbia and Yukon. More than an award, the program is a community platform that connects project leaders, sponsors, and industry partners in a shared celebration of excellence.
 
Across three categories, POTY recognizes world-class delivery, transformative innovation, and enduring social and environmental impact. Winning projects join a permanent archive of case studies that PMI-CWCC publishes for the wider profession to learn from – and are celebrated live at the PMWest Annual Conference each November.

Key Dates

Why Enter?

Explore the awards

Each recognizes a distinct dimension of project excellence. Applicants may enter more than one - each requires its own complete submission.

Project of the Year Award

Category 01 · Flagship

The program’s most prestigious honour. It recognizes organizations that deliver exceptional outcomes against all five dimensions of the POTY Excellence Framework.

Community & Social Innovation Award

Category 02 · Social impact

Celebrates projects that create meaningful, demonstrable societal benefit — often led by non-profits, public bodies, and social enterprises, and judged through a Social Return on Investment lens.

Sustainability Leadership Award

Category 03 · Environment

Recognizes projects that embed environmental sustainability as a core design principle, with measurable impact reductions aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Frequently asked questions

Start early and answer every criterion with specific, measurable evidence — variance data, benefits reports, references, and documentation. Have someone outside the project review it for clarity before you submit.

Three categories: the Project of the Year Award, the Community & Social Innovation Award, and the Sustainability Leadership Award. You may enter more than one.

Organizations of any size – enterprise, SME, or non-profit – delivering projects primarily in British Columbia or with significant Western Canada impact, within each category’s completion window and minimum budget.

Submit a complete application through the POTY portal for each category you enter. Expert judges then score, calibrate, and shortlist finalists, who present to the panel before winners are chosen.

You may enter more than one category, but each requires its own complete, separate submission tailored to that category’s criteria and evidence.

You can update your submission any time before the intake deadline. After applications close on September 30, entries are locked for evaluation – contact the applicants coordinator with any questions.

Yes. All submissions are treated as confidential, scoring data is anonymized in aggregate reporting, and every judge signs a non-disclosure agreement.

A modest application fee applies, with subsidized rates for PMI-CWCC members and a fee-waiver program for eligible non-profit applicants. Current fees are shown in the application portal.

Provide verifiable evidence for each criterion – financial documentation, outcome data, references, and any third-party verification. Incomplete or late submissions cannot be evaluated.

No. Submissions are judged competitively against the criteria, and meeting the minimum score threshold is required simply to advance to the shortlist.

A panel of qualified, independent judges. Each entry is scored by at least two judges, calibrated for consistency, and the full panel selects winners by secret ballot.

Yes. Applicants receive written feedback on their evaluation, in keeping with the program’s commitment to transparency.

At the POTY 2026 Awards Ceremony on November 5, 2026, held during the PMI-CWCC PMWest Annual Conference.

The PMI-CWCC POTY Team, led by the Program Director under the VP of Professional Development.

Email the POTY team at poty@pmi.bc.ca or poty.coordinators@pmi.bc.ca.

Could your project be among the first?

2026 is the inaugural program year. Applications open June 12 and close September 30 - winners are celebrated at the PMWest Conference in November.