Help and FAQ’s

Early bird entries submitted before 23:59 on 13 June, 2025 will receive their first entry fee. (Entrants would need to purchase a ticket to the gala awards dinner separately if shortlisted)

Standard entries submitted from 14 June to 23:59 on 31 July 2025 will be charged at the rate of US$349 + VAT

Final entries submitted from 01 August to 23:59 on 10 September 2025 will be charged at the rate of US$449 + VAT

Entries for Rising Star of the People Profession and Outstanding CIPD Student of the Year are free to enter.

The deadline for standard entry is 23.59 on 31 July, 2025. The final deadline is 23.59 10 September 2025.

No – you can submit an unlimited amount of entries across multiple categories. We recommend that you tailor each of your entries for each category. For any support on category entry, please contact awards@cipd.ae

To submit an entry, please download the entry form, complete and upload (as a word or PDF document) when prompted via the online entry portal.

All entries must not exceed the stated word count. Each section in the entry form details the word count.

Projects and programmes must have been implemented from January 2022

Supporting materials can be provided in Word, PDF or JPEG formats. Supporting documents are not mandatory and will not be reviewed until the second round of judging. Supporting documents could include photographs, survey results and press coverage.

All files must not exceed 2MB each. You have the option to provide up to 3 supporting documents, along with your entry form.

If you need further advice, please contact awards@cipd.ae and one of the team will be able to help with your inquiry.

The awards are judged by a panel of industry leaders and experts. You can see the confirmed judging panel on the judges page.

The CIPD Middle East People Awards will take place on Thursday 11 December, 2025.

Email: awards@cipd.ae
Sponsorship Enquiries: awards@cipd.ae

Due to the volume of entries we are not able to give individual feedback. We will be in contact with those who are shortlisted as finalists.

All finalists that did not enter under the early bird rate will receive one pass to attend the awards per shortlisted category. We welcome you to invite your team to celebrate and network with other leading organisations and Fellows of the CIPD.

The Profession Map is the international standard for the people profession. It helps us to make better decisions, act with confidence, drive change in our organisations and progress in our careers. It does this by setting out the purpose, values, core knowledge, behaviours and specialist knowledge that make a positive impact, whatever our career level or specialism. It can be used by individuals and by teams, members and non-members alike. It works for HR, L&D, OD and all other specialist roles in the people profession. You can find more details on the CIPD Profession Map here.