The format timelines for the 9th International Best Practice Competition, 5th Organisation-Wide Innovation Award and 8th Global Benchmarking Award and 2nd Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) Excellence Award are shown below:
International Best Practice Competition (IBPC)
The Competition takes place over 3 rounds:
| Round | Event | Explanation | Dates |
| 1 | Submit Your Best Practice | Open to all organisations. Complete the IBPC Entry Form. | Monday 15th May 2023
Still open for late entries until all presentation slots are filled. |
| Expert reviewers will assess the best practice. These reviewers are independent of the judges and their role is to select best practices for Round 2 and provide feedback and advice that will improve the standard of successful applications. | Monday 22nd May 2023 | ||
| Entry fee required to participate (only payable if your best practice qualifies to the next stage of the competition). | Wednesday 31st May 2023 | ||
| 2 | Best Practice Sharing Extravaganza | Schedule of webinars and presentation times issued. Presentations will be scheduled at convenient time-zones for international participants. | Wednesday 31st May 2023 |
| 8-minute best practice presentations must be pre-recorded and sent to the IBPC committee at least 5 days before the scheduled presentation date for review to ensure compliance with the presentation guidelines. | Friday 14th June 2023 onwards | ||
| The Best Practice Sharing Extravaganza takes place with the pre-recorded presentations played followed by a live Question and Answer session with a panel of judges and open to other participants for best practice learning. All participants will have their best practices graded using IBPC’s Best Practice Certification Scheme. |
19 June – 6 July 2023 | ||
| The 30 potential finalists for Round 3 are announced. | Friday 7 July 2023 | ||
| The 14 finalists for Round 3 are announced. | Monday 10 July 2023 | ||
| 3 | Best of the Best – Awards Spectacular | Final of the 8th International Best Practice Competition. Up to twelve (12) of the leading best practices will be invited to give an 8-minute presentation. All presentations will be pre-recorded. | Tuesday/Wednesday 18/19 July 2023 |
| The 7-Star Best Practices are announced. | Thursday 20 July 2023 | ||
| IBPC Best Practice Certificates | IBPC Best Practice Certificates including Star Ratings will be issued to all participants after moderating and aligning the judges’ assessments. | Monday 31 July 2023 | |
Winners and runners up and judges, 2017 photo
Organisation-Wide Innovation Award (OWIA)
This award takes places over 2 rounds.
| Round | Event | Explanation | Dates |
| 1 | Submit Your Innovation Approach | Open to all organisations. Complete the OWIA Entry Form. Early submissions welcome (if submitted earlier you will have more time to address our reviewers’ feedback and improve your application). | Friday 7 July 2023 |
| Expert reviewers will assess your application. These reviewers are independent of the judges and their role is to select the applications for the final and provide feedback and advice that will improve the standard of successful applications. | Monday 17 July 2023 | ||
| Entry fee required (only payable if your entry qualifies to the final). | Monday 24 July 2023 | ||
| Submissions to be updated and improved based on feedback | Thursday 27 July 2023 | ||
| 2 | Best of the Best – Awards Spectacular | All finalists need to prepare a 15-minute pre-recorded presentation and send it to the OWIA committee at least 5 days before the scheduled presentation date for review to ensure compliance with the presentation guidelines. | Thursday 27 July 2023 |
| Final of the Organisation-Wide Innovation Award. Up to six (6) applicants will be invited to the final. At the final the applicant’s 15-minute pre-recorded presentation will be played followed by a live Question and Answer session with a panel of judges. These sessions are open so that other participants can learn from them. All participants will have their innovation approach graded using OWIA’s Certification Scheme. Winner(s) selected based on highest star rating. | Wednesday 2 August 2023 | ||
| OWIA Certificates | OWIA Certificates including Star Ratings will be issued to all participants after moderating and aligning the judges’ assessments. | Thursday 10 August 2023 | |
GBN’s Global Benchmarking Award (GBN)
This award takes places over 2 rounds.
| Round | Event | Explanation | Dates |
| 1 | Submit Your Benchmarking Approach | Open to all organisations. Complete the GBN Award Entry Form. Early submissions welcome (if submitted earlier you will have more time to address our reviewers’ feedback and improve your application). |
Friday 7 July 2023 |
| Expert reviewers will assess your application. These reviewers are independent of the judges and their role is to select the applications for the final and provide feedback and advice that will improve the standard of successful applications. | Monday 17 July 2023 | ||
| Entry fee required (only payable if your entry qualifies to the final). | Monday 24 July 2023 | ||
| Submissions to be updated and improved based on feedback | Thursday 27 July 2023 | ||
| 2 | Best of the Best – Awards Spectacular | All finalists need to prepare a 15-minute pre-recorded presentation and send it to the GBN committee at least 5 days before the scheduled presentation date for review to ensure compliance with the presentation guidelines. | Thursday 27 July 2023 |
| Final of the Global Benchmarking Award. Up to six (6) applicants will be invited to the final. At the final the applicant’s 15-minute pre-recorded presentation will be played followed by a live Question and Answer session with a panel of judges. These sessions are open so that other participants can learn from them. All participants will have their benchmarking approach graded using the GBN’s Certification Scheme. Winner(s) selected based on highest star rating. | Thursday 3 August 2023 | ||
| GBN Certificates | GBN Certificates including Star Ratings will be issued to all participants after moderating and aligning the judges’ assessments. | Thursday 10 August 2023 | |
Environmental, Social, & Governance (ESG) Excellence Award
This award takes places over 2 rounds. This award can be entered in two different ways, one way is to complete the Standard Entry Form (12 pages) and the other is to complete the Non-Standard Entry Form (4 pages) and have at least three best practices related to ESG accepted into the International Best Practice Competition – these can then be presented as evidence instead of completing a full application.
| Round | Event | Explanation | Dates |
| 1 | Submit Your ESG Approach | Open to all organisations. Complete an ESG Entry Form. Early submissions welcome (if submitted earlier you will have more time to address our reviewers’ feedback and improve your application). | Friday 7 July 2023 |
| Expert reviewers will assess your application. These reviewers are independent of the judges and their role is to select the applications for the final and provide feedback and advice that will improve the standard of successful applications. | Monday 17 July 2023 | ||
| Entry fee required (only payable if your entry qualifies to the final). | Monday 24 July 2023 | ||
| Submissions to be updated and improved based on feedback | Thursday 27 July 2023 | ||
| 2 | Best of the Best – Awards Spectacular | All finalists need to prepare a 20-minute pre-recorded presentation and send it to the ESG committee at least 8 days before the scheduled presentation date for review to ensure compliance with the presentation guidelines. | Tuesday 29 August 2023 |
| Final of the Environmental, Social, & Governance (ESG) Excellence Award Up to six (6) applicants will be invited to the final. At the final the applicant’s 20-minute pre-recorded presentation will be played followed by a live Question and Answer session with a panel of judges. These sessions are open so that other participants can learn from them. All participants will have their ESG approach graded using the ESG’s Certification Scheme. Winner(s) selected based on highest star rating. |
Thursday 7 September 2023 | ||
| ESG Certificates | ESG Certificates including Star Ratings will be issued to all participants after moderating and aligning the judges’ assessments. | Thursday 14 September 2023 | |
