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Applications Open April 6, 2026!

Presented by Chief Learning Officer.

Since 2003, the Chief Learning Officer Learning In Practice awards have recognized learning leaders who demonstrate excellence in the design and delivery of employee development programs through a combination of qualities such as leadership, vision, business acumen and strategic alignment.

INDIVIDUAL + ORGANIZATION EXCELLENCE IN EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT

VIEW PAST WINNERS
PREVIEW QUESTIONS

CATEGORIES

Individual + Organization Excellence In Employee Development

PRACTITIONER CATEGORIES
PROVIDER CATEGORIES

The Learning in Practice Awards are presented annually to practitioners and providers in recognition of excellence in learning and employee development. Gold, silver and bronze awards are awarded in two broad classes. Practitioner awards recognize CLOs and qualified senior learning leaders for their work within their organizations. Provider awards recognize qualified service providers, vendors and consultants for their work on behalf of a client organization.

Please note: Provider awards will be given to the service providers, vendors and consultants only; client companies are not listed jointly as recipients of these awards.

CLO OF THE YEAR


For the learning executive who is without peer in developing and executing learning and development strategies, marshaling and managing resources and achieving measurable success. The CLO of the Year award recognizes executives for their body of work over the course of their career.

THE BUSINESS IMPACT AWARD


For learning executives who have implemented a significant measurement or evaluation program that has demonstrated exceptional business impact from their workforce development programs. Potential results may include measures of employee retention, sales, revenue growth, customer satisfaction or cost reduction, among others.

THE BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP AWARD


For learning departments that have partnered in a progressive way with business partners or external organizational divisions and functions, such as the sales and marketing department or external customer groups, to develop and deliver a targeted employee development program that supports the partner’s goals.

THE INNOVATION AWARD


For learning executives who have marshaled resources and applied innovative practices, processes and/or technologies in a new and groundbreaking way to address a significant business or organizational opportunity.

THE STRATEGY AWARD


For learning executives who have demonstrated exceptional business acumen combined with forward-looking vision to develop and execute a comprehensive learning strategy that clearly aligns employee development with broader organizational strategy.

THE TALENT MANAGEMENT AWARD


For learning executives who have developed a program that effectively integrates learning into broader talent management initiatives such as employee engagement, onboarding, succession planning, recruiting or performance management.

THE TECHNOLOGY AWARD


For learning executives who have delivered new and unique applications of emerging technology to employee learning and development.

THE TRAILBLAZER AWARD


For learning executives who have either launched a new enterprise learning function or completely overhauled existing workforce development initiatives in the past year.

Provider Categories

PROVIDER PREVIEW QUESTIONS

EXCELLENCE IN ACADEMIC PARTNERSHIPS


Recognizes accredited academic learning institutions that have partnered with an organization in the past year to develop skills, competency or knowledge in a general employee population.

EXCELLENCE IN BLENDED LEARNING


Recognizes vendors that have deployed a variety of tools in support of a client’s learning program that delivers engaging learning combining multiple modalities.

EXCELLENCE IN COMMUNITY SERVICE


Recognizes vendors that have provided significant investment of company resources and time in support of a community service project or initiative.

EXCELLENCE IN CONTENT


Recognizes vendors that have created superior customized and/or off-the-shelf learning content.

EXCELLENCE IN E-LEARNING


Recognizes vendors that have rolled out an innovative and effective e-learning program or suite for a client.

EXCELLENCE IN EXECUTIVE EDUCATION


Recognizes executive education providers that have delivered a targeted executive education program for a client that has delivered measurable results.

EXCELLENCE IN TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION


Recognizes vendors that have rolled out an innovative learning technology for a client such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, apps, video, social collaboration tools or games and simulations.

EXCELLENCE IN PARTNERSHIP


Recognizes vendors or consultants who have effectively supported a client’s learning and development function to set strategy or establish or implement a program via consulting or whole or partial outsourced services.

FAQ

We've Got A's For Your Q's

What are the Learning in Practice awards?

Chief Learning Officer’s Learning in Practice awards were developed to recognize industry leaders who have demonstrated excellence in the design and delivery of workforce learning and development programs.

Awards are given annually in two broad categories: practitioner and provider. Practitioner awards include seven individual awards, as well as the industry’s top honor, the CLO of the Year. Practitioner awards are further split into two divisions: Division 1 is for organizations with more than 10,000 employees. Division 2 is for organizations with fewer than 10,000 employees.

Who do I contact if I have any questions about the Learning in Practice Awards?

Please reach out if you have any questions.

Who is eligible to apply?

The practitioner awards are reserved for practicing learning and development professionals at for-profit, nonprofit, government and academic organizations. The provider awards are reserved for vendors, consultants and partnering organizations that provide services to client organizations. Note: The award is presented solely to the provider; client companies are not listed jointly as recipients of these awards.

All awards, with the exception of the CLO of the Year award, recognize leaders and providers for initiatives conducted within the past year. For the 2026 awards, initiatives conducted at any time in 2025 through June 2026 are eligible. Initiatives that were started earlier are eligible as long as demonstrable results can be documented in the current award nomination period.

How do I apply?

Online applications are filled out through our nomination entry portal. Download the CLO of the Year, Practitioner Award and Provider Award applications in advance to preview questions.

Is there a cost to apply? How do I pay?

There is an application processing and handling fee. When you complete the online application and click submit, you will be required to pay the application fee with a credit card. Your application is not finalized until payment.

Members Save! Become a CXO+ member today to save on your Learning in Practice application – and gain access to many other great benefits!

Who are the judges?

Judges include senior practitioners, learning and development experts, Chief Learning Officer editors and past award winners. Each nomination is reviewed by multiple judges to minimize bias.

What is the judging process and criteria?

A panel of judges is established for each of the 16 award categories to ensure entries are judged consistently and fairly. Winners are determined by averaging scores assigned by judges to each entry. In the event of a tie, a select group of judges will review competing entries to determine winners.

The scoring has been set up to be consistent across the award categories and judges will provide numerical scores for each of the following criteria:

Practitioner Awards

  • Leadership: The degree to which the practitioner or team led the initiative, demonstrated by behaviors such as setting clear goals, providing guidance, coaching and support, working through obstacles and/or celebrating success.
  • Challenge: The scope, difficulty and size of the initiative.
  • Award-specific Criteria: See categories for descriptions of awards.

Provider Awards

  • Ownership: The degree to which the provider took ownership of the client’s challenge, demonstrated by behaviors such as helping define outcomes, setting clear goals, providing guidance, working through obstacles and communicating challenges and successes.
  • Challenge: The scope, difficulty and size of the initiative.
  • Award-specific Criteria: See categories for descriptions of awards.

Judging Scale

Each of the three award criteria is judged on a scale of 1 to 7:

  • 6-7 (Breakthrough and/or role model): For learning practitioners or vendor companies considered “breakthroughs” and/or “role models” for the learning and development industry. The challenge is considered to be extreme (across an entire industry) or global (large numbers of learners, many stakeholders, very difficult to accomplish), and the nominees have demonstrated role-model leadership.
  • 4-5 (Outstanding): For learning practitioners or vendor companies who did an outstanding job, met or exceeded all of the criteria as described and accomplished all goals. The complexity was significant and/or the nominees demonstrated clear leadership.
  • 1-3 (Meets the criteria): For learning practitioners or vendor companies whose initiatives met the criteria but did not or could not provide clear or reliable evidence to identify initiatives as breakthrough or outstanding.
  • 0 (Does not meet the criteria): Did not meet the criteria established or failed to document how the criteria were met.

When and how are the winners announced?

Finalists will be announced in September. At that point, finalists will know which category but not which level of award – gold, silver or bronze – they have received. The final awards will be announced and presented during a Learning in Practice Awards ceremony.

Is there an award ceremony?

There is an awards ceremony, date and location are currently TBD. It will include the awards presentation and a keynote address from the outgoing CLO of the Year.

What do award winners receive?

Award winners will receive a designed award presented during the Learning in Practice Awards ceremony.

JUDGING

Apply To Judge

Judges include senior practitioners, learning and development experts, Chief Learning Officer editors and past award winners. Each nomination is reviewed by multiple judges. Winners will be determined by averaging scores assigned by judges to each entry. In the event of a tie, a select group of judges will review competing entries to determine winners.

If you are interested in being a judge, please click on the button below to complete the form.

APPLY TO JUDGE THE LEARNING IN PRACTICE AWARDS