Frequently Asked Questions
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Welcome to the 2025 AI Leader Awards
AI Leader Awards 2025: Recognizing Excellence in Artificial Intelligence
KEY DATES & FACTS
Nominations are now open for the 2025 season:
Stay connected—subscribe to our newsletter to receive program updates, voting tips, and winner announcements.
In the complex and dynamic world of cybersecurity, excellence often goes unnoticed. That’s where the AI Leader Awards come in. We recognize companies, products, and professionals that demonstrate leadership, innovation, and excellence in information security.
A Global Stage for AI Excellence
Artificial intelligence is transforming industries, redefining products, and reshaping how we work and live. The AI Leader Awards were created to spotlight those driving this transformation—from breakthrough technologies and research to visionary teams and standout leadership.We honor organizations, products, and professionals at the forefront of AI innovation across all domains: enterprise, cybersecurity, consumer, creative, scientific, and beyond. Whether you’re optimizing threat detection or reinventing personal productivity, this is your platform to gain global recognition for real-world impact.
Why Participate?
This isn’t just another trophy. It’s a high-visibility opportunity to:
- Validate your leadership in a fast-moving field
- Celebrate team achievements
- Attract talent, partners, and customers
- Showcase your brand across media, social, and web
To ensure fair competition, nominees are evaluated within peer groups defined by company size, market segment, and geography—leveling the playing field for early-stage innovators and global leaders alike.
Who Can Enter?
We welcome:
- Startups and scaleups
- Enterprises and public companies
- Individual AI professionals and researchers
- Product teams, SOC teams, data science groups, and more
With dozens of finely tuned categories spanning AI use cases, sectors, technologies, and impact areas, you’ll find the right space to shine.
Award Categories
From AI for Cybersecurity to Generative AI for Creative Work, from AI Risk Management to AI for Good, our category taxonomy reflects the real-world application of AI.
Looking for something unique? Premium entrants can even propose a custom category.
Explore all 2025 categories → View full list
Voting Process
Nominations are evaluated primarily by our expert jury, based on the strength, clarity, and relevance of your submission.
Public votes (vote by sharing on social media) are accepted throughout the season and may serve as a tie-breaker—but never outweigh substance.
To ensure equity, we segment voting and evaluation by company size and category type, preventing popularity bias and ensuring early-stage innovators are recognized on merit.
Key Dates & Milestones
Now – October 15, 2025:
Nominations are open. Submit early to maximize exposure, votes, and visibility on our public platform. Supporters can vote throughout the nomination season. Early nominations benefit from a longer voting runway.October 15 – October 31, 2025:
Final jury review and finalist / winner selection. Nominations are evaluated primarily on merit by our expert panel, with peer-group segmentation to ensure fairness.November 2025:
Winners and finalists announced, starting November 15. Public recognition, press outreach, and homepage features begin immediately—perfect timing for year-end marketing, social media, and 2026 planning.Early nominations benefit from:
- Longer visibility on our live nomination pages
- More time to gather community votes and PR attention
- Streamlined Nomination Process
- Nominate in minutes via our secure, self-serve dashboard
- Save drafts and return anytime
- Submit multiple entries under one login
- Duplicate entries across categories for faster submission
- Add optional enhancements like award plaques or homepage features
- Nominate once or many times—we make it simple.
Frequently Asked Questions
Have questions? Browse our FAQs or contact our team. We’re here to help every step of the way—from selecting the right category to optimizing your nomination for maximum impact.
The AI Leader Awards provide a platform for the industry’s best to shine. Don’t miss your chance to participate in this prestigious recognition program. Explore the categories, understand the process (don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions), and start your nomination today.
👉  Start Your Nomination Here
AI Leader Awards
400 E. Pratt Street
Baltimore, MD 21202
U.S.A. -
Why Enter the Awards?
The AI Leader Awards are trusted across the industry because they’re built on three pillars: credibility, community, and visibility.
Credibility:
Over the last 10 years, hundreds of leading cybersecurity companies—including leaders like Zscaler, CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks, and many emerging innovators—as well as thousands of distinguished cybersecurity professionals have participated in our program. Judging combines expert panel review with peer recognition from our 600,000+ member Cybersecurity Insiders community, ensuring results reflect both the highest professional standards and real-world relevance.Reach and Publicity:
Winners benefit from significant exposure across our award platform, newsletter, and social media channels. Many participants amplify the win through press releases, sales enablement, investor communications, and LinkedIn promotion—boosting brand trust and validation at critical moments.Quality and Impact:
Our program is streamlined yet rigorous. Each nomination is reviewed for quality and relevance, and judges are highly experienced cybersecurity professionals. Finalists and winners stand out because the competition is strong—and the process is selective.Award Value:
An award win helps validate your product, team, or leadership with trusted third-party recognition. It enhances credibility in sales conversations, builds trust with buyers, and gives marketing teams high-quality proof points to promote across campaigns, websites, and social channels.Examples of 2025 Award Winners’ Press Releases:
Claro Enterprise Solutions announced their recognition as the Best Managed Security Service Provider:
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/claro-enterprise-solutions-wins-2025-cybersecurity-excellence-award-for-best-managed-security-service-provider-302447397.htmlLattice Semiconductor celebrated multiple wins across Embedded Security, Network Security, and Security Awareness Program categories:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250312097708/en/Lattice-Wins-Multiple-2025-Cybersecurity-Excellence-AwardsTekStream highlighted their achievements in Cybersecurity Team of the Year, Cyber Skilling, and Security Operations Center (SOC) categories:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250311698814/en/TekStream-Wins-Three-2025-Cybersecurity-Excellence-AwardsFortra shared their accolades in Best Cybersecurity Company and Email Security:
https://www.fortra.com/resources/press-releases/fortra-wins-two-2025-cybersecurity-excellence-awards-best-cybersecurityZimperium announced their wins in Best Mobile Application Defense Company, Best Mobile Threat Defense, and Best Mobile Application Security:
https://www.zimperium.com/resources/zimperium-secures-three-wins-in-2025-cybersecurity-excellence-awards/These examples demonstrate how award recognition can be leveraged for enhanced visibility and credibility in the cybersecurity industry.
Frequently Asked Questions
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How Do I Enter an Award Nomination?
Entering an award nomination is easy. Before you can submit a nomination, you need to be a registered user (register here) and logged in.
Whether you would like to nominate a cybersecurity product / service, cybersecurity company or cybersecurity professional / team, all nominations follow these 3 simple steps:
1) Select Award Category – Visit the nomination page and select the award category (company, product, professional) and sub category for your nomination. Then click the CONTINUE button.
2) Add Nomination Details – Next, complete the award details form to provide more details about your nomination, including achievements and justification why the nominee deserves recognition, and images of your product, team or nominated individuals. Then click the CONTINUE button. TIP: Make sure to include your company and/or product brand name in nomination titles (where applicable) for better brand visibility.
3) Review Your Nomination – Next, review your nomination details and correct details, if necessary, using the GO BACK button. If everything looks fine, review the rules and guidelines, and then click the CONTINUE button. You will be directed to a confirmation page stating that your submission is now pending review by our AI Leader Awards staff. Click the button VIEW YOUR AWARD SUBMISSION to review your submission and make changes.
You can review the status of your award submission(s) at any time by visiting the dashboard.
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What Information Do I Need to Submit With Each Nomination?
Download the PDFs containing all required fields for each award category: Product | Company | Professional
Here is the list of the form fields required to submit nominations for the AI Leader Awards.
CYBERSECURITY PROFESSIONAL NOMINATION
– Name of nominated professional or team
– Job title of nominated professional
– Company (where nominated professional or team is working)
– Website
– Company size (employees)
– Country
– State
– City
– In less than 300 words, summarize the achievements of the professional or team in the nominated category
– In 3 bullets, summarize why this professional or team deserves recognition
– Images: Please upload images of the professional and/or team. The first image will become the featured image and is displayed larger than other, secondary images.CYBERSECURITY PRODUCT NOMINATION
COMPANY DETAILS
– Company (that provides the nominated product / solution / service) *
– Website
– Company size (employees)
– Country
– State
– CityPRODUCTS / SOLUTIONS / SERVICE DETAILS
– Name of the Product / Solution / Service
– Product Version Number
– Type of solution
– Year this product or service was first introduced to the market
– Year the current version of this product or service has been released
– Approximate number of users worldwide
– In less than 300 words, summarize the most important features and benefits of this product or service
– In 3 bullets, summarize why this product or service deserves recognition
– Images: Please upload your company logo and images of your product (screenshots, packaging, appliance, etc.). The first image will become the featured image and is displayed larger than other, secondary images.CYBERSECURITY COMPANY
– Company (that is being nominated)
– Website
– Company size (employees)
– Country
– State
– City
– In less than 300 words, summarize the achievements of the company in the nominated category *
– In 3 bullets, summarize why this company deserves recognition
– Images: Please upload your company logo and images of your office, team, etc.). The first image will become the featured image and is displayed larger than other, secondary images. -
What Cybersecurity Award Categories Are Available for Nomination?
Click here to see the cybersecurity categories available for nominations.
Can’t find the right category for your company, professional, industry, product or service nomination? Contact us to propose a new category.
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How Many Different Nominations Can I Submit?
The number of nominations each user can submit as part of the standard award package is limited to 3 (made on behalf of the same company or same client) – all for one flat nomination fee. The nominations can be made across all award categories.
For more than 3 nominations for the same company or client, as well as the opportunity to create custom award categories and see your nominations and brand prominently featured on the homepage, we offer a premium sponsorship package [ more details ].
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What If My Nomination Does Not Fit Any of the Available Award Categories?
We understand that innovative security solutions often don’t fit existing categories. Please contact the AI Leader Awards team if you would like us to consider adding a new category to better fit your product, solution or service nomination.
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When Is the Nomination Deadline?
The extended deadline for entering your nomination(s) is the end of day June 30, 2025 at midnight US Pacific [the earlier you submit, the more time to promote your nomination and collect votes].
If you miss the deadline, you can extend the deadline and add late nominations by purchasing the PRO package.
Voting is open throughout the award nomination season.
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Where Can I See the Approval Status of My Award Nominations?
To see the approval status of your award nominations, or to make changes, visit the dashboard. You need to be a registered user and logged into the awards site with your user credentials.
After completing your nomination, you will receive a notification email confirming that your nomination is pending (please also check your spam folder). Nominations are typically approved within 24 business hours. If you did not receive a confirmation email, please contact our support team.
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How can I edit my nomination after it has been submitted?
To edit your award nomination(s), please visit the dashboard. You need to be a registered user and logged into the awards site with your user credentials.
After editing your award submission, the entry will go back into the approval queue. Revised nominations are typically approved within 24 business hours. If you did not receive a confirmation email, please contact our support team.
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How Long Will It Take To Submit My Nomination
Submitting your nomination can be completed in less than 10 minutes provided you have the necessary information ready.
After submission, your nomination will be reviewed and are typically approved by the AI Leader Awards team within 24 business hours.
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How Much Does an Award Nomination Cost (and How Can I Pay)?
There are three award packages you can select: STARTER, PLUS and PRO. See the pricing page for current nomination fees and descriptions of each package.
ACCEPTED PAYMENT METHODS
Payment is accepted via credit card or PayPal on the payment page (you can also request to pay via ACH, check or wire).PAYMENT CONFIRMATION
You will receive an automatic confirmation email following successful payment.If you did not receive the email, please check your spam folder and mark the email from info@cybersecurity-excellence-awards.com as “not spam” to make sure you will receive future emails from us to your inbox. Some email filters are very strict and you may have to send a note to your IT support team to get the sender email whitelisted.
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How Can I Improve my Chances of Receiving an Award?
There are four basic steps to give your nomination(s) the highest odds of winning an award:
1 – Strengthen Your Nomination(s)
First, highlight why your nomination deserves recognition. The strength of your nomination is most important in determining award winners. Add examples of how your product, company or individual impacts the cybersecurity industry in the specific category. For example, if you nominate in a fastest growing company category, provide details about the company’s growth rate, etc.2 – Nominate in Multiple Award Categories
Nominate not only in crowded categories (such as best company) but also in product categories where there typically much fewer nominations and therefore less competition (which increases your odds of winning tremendously). Remember, you can nominate in as many categories as you like for one flat nomination fee payment. You can also propose new award categories if you feel that the existing categories may not be a perfect fit for your solution.3 – Promote Your Award Nomination
You can promote your nomination page URL on Twitter, LinkedIn and your company blog so that your friends, followers, customers and prospects learn about the award opportunity and vote for you! While the number of votes is only a secondary factor in determining finalists and award winners (the primary factor is the strength of the nomination – votes are only used as a tie breaker for otherwise equally strong nominations).4 – Sponsor the AI Leader Awards for Maximum Visibility
Another option to increase visibility for your nomination and brand is to sponsor the AI Leader Awards (see details here). This places your nomination prominently at the top of the homepage and your logo throughout the site, thereby receiving more visibility for your nomination and company. -
Who Should I Contact If I Have Any Questions?
Please contact the AI Leader Awards team with any questions or suggestions.
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Help – I am not receiving confirmation emails
Sometimes email platforms are automatically filtering emails because they are perceived as spam. While more than 99% of our emails are delivered to you without any problems, sometimes emails do not arrive in your inbox. It is important you receive all emails during your nomination process as well as notifications about your award wins (no worries, it’s not that many).
If you do not receive confirmation emails after a password reset, after submitting your nomination or after paying the nomination fee online, take the following steps:
- First check your spam folder and mark the email from info@aileaderawards.com as “not spam” to make sure you will receive future emails from us to your inbox. In most cases, this solves all email delivery issues.
- If the missing email cannot be found in your spam folder, it may mean that your email platform filters are very strict and prevent delivery altogether. In this case, please send a quick note to your IT support team and ask to get the sender email whitelisted (info@aileaderawards.com).
- Should this not solve the problem, please contact us and we will send you confirmation emails from a different email sender domain to make sure you receive important emails.
Frequently Asked Questions
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How to Place a Vote
Voting for your favorite nomination(s) is fast, easy, and fun – vote by sharing!
Here are the steps:
- First, find the page showing your favorite nominee (a searchable listing of all nominations can be found here).
- On the nomination profile page, find the social sharing bar to share the award nomination with your followers – each successful and completed social share adds a vote for the candidate and increases the vote count.
Keep in mind that votes alone do not determine finalists and winners, the strength of the nomination is what’s most important – however, votes give your favorite nomination more visibility and can help to break a tie between otherwise equally strong nominations.
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Where Can I Find Nominations to Vote For?
All nominations and candidates can be found on the voting page. Simply browse through the award categories and click the candidate title links or buttons to see each nomination in detail. Click the thumbs up voting button (upper right corner of the page) to submit your vote.
Frequently Asked Questions
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How are the award recipients selected?
The AI Leader Awards celebrate unique contributions and steadfast commitment to the core principles of excellence, innovation, and leadership within the cybersecurity industry.
Award recipients are selected based on two main criteria: (1) the strength of the nomination (demonstrated leadership, excellence and results in cybersecurity, depending on the specific category and the supporting information provided); and (2) the popular votes and comments received from the cybersecurity community. The popular vote will only be considered if two or more nomination are tied for an award (in other words, a weaker nomination with more votes will not outperform a stronger nomination with fewer votes).
Understanding Our Awards Structure
To ensure fairness and recognize diverse achievements, our awards are not exclusive to a single recipient within each category. Instead, we honor multiple recipients in each category, segmenting nominations by company size and regional tiers. This classification is highlighted in each award recipient’s nomination profile to ensure transparency.
This approach ensures a fair and level playing field, allowing us to acknowledge outstanding contributions from individuals and businesses of all sizes and from different geographical areas.
We hope this clarifies our awards criteria and emphasizes the inclusivity we strive to maintain, ensuring equity and a level playing field for all participants.
Join us in celebrating the broad spectrum of excellence that each award recipient brings to our industry!
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Where can I find my award badge?
Follow this link to download the most recent award badge image (scroll down to find all badge images in various formats): AI Leader Awards Logo and Badge
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How Can I Use the Award Win Badge?
Winning an award grants winners the privilege to use the award badge in your promotional materials. This means you can freely showcase the badge across various platforms—be it digital marketing campaigns, email signatures, company websites, or printed materials—without any additional fees for its use (we grant you a license to use the badge and award materials).
It’s a great way to highlight your achievement and enhance your brand’s credibility and visibility. Always ensure to follow any specific guidelines provided for the badge’s use to maintain the integrity of the award and your marketing efforts.
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When and How Are Winners Announced (and What is Part of the Award Package)?
Winners & finalists will be published on the AI Leader Awards site and announced on the Cybersecurity Insiders website and the 600,000+ member information security community on LinkedIn. Please follow us on LinkedIn to make sure you don’t miss any announcements: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cybersecurity-excellence-awards/
Winners and finalists will also receive digital award badges to display on their websites (download digital image files for previous years awards here: https://aileaderawards.com/2024-cybersecurity-excellence-awards).
Award finalists and winners will be announced starting the week of February 24, 2025. There is no live award ceremony or dinner – this award program is online only to give everyone the same opportunity for worldwide access and keep the program cost-effective for all participants.
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How to Become a Judge on the Awards Jury
The AI Leader Awards program recognizes companies, products, and professionals that demonstrate exceptional innovation, excellence, and market success in using artificial intelligence.
Judging is conducted by a panel of industry practitioners who evaluate each nomination based on these core criteria. We maintain a high standard of integrity by ensuring that judges are independent and knowledgeable about the categories they assess.
Are you interested in joining our jury panel? Please send us a quick note using the Contact Us form. Applications are reviewed and accepted on a rolling basis.