The International Quality Awards 2026 are now open for entries.
Apply by 30 January.
About the Developing Quality Talent Award
This award recognises a strategy, initiative or project that demonstrates a commitment to identifying and developing quality talent.
The fee for this award is £299 + VAT.
If your organisation is a Corporate Partner of the CQI, you do not have to pay the entry fee. Please refer to the list of Corporate Partners on our website to confirm whether you are eligible for free entry or not.
How to enter
Ensure you complete all questions and support your application with robust data. If your entry contains confidential or sensitive information, please clearly state this.
Categories, criteria and marking scheme
Word limit: 1,500 and up to six supporting slides
This award recognises a strategy, initiative or project that demonstrates a commitment to identifying and developing quality talent.
| Criteria | Questions | Marks |
| Context | What challenge or opportunity relating to your quality talent pipeline needed addressing? What were the implications of not addressing it? Describe how the challenge or opportunity fits within the context of your overall business and your staff team. | 5 |
| Planning | What factors informed your approach to addressing the challenge or opportunity identified above? Explain what resource constraints you had (if any)? How did you use quality management principles in your planning? | 30 |
| Delivery | Tell us about the quality management approaches you used in the delivery phase. How did you manage risks, issues and barriers that emerged during delivery? | 30 |
| Results | What was the impact of this approach in relation to the quality talent pool in your organisation? Did you achieve your aims and objectives? Provide any objective metrics that demonstrate this impact. | 30 |
| Learning and Improvement | What lessons did you learn from this process? For example, is there anything that you would do differently? Was there anything that was particularly critical to the success of the initiative? How will you sustain the benefits of this work? | 5 |
Here are some resources to support you with your application:
