Event professional & marketer categories

Your best work of the year deserves the right stage, and the recognition that comes with it. Explore the categories below to find where your story stands out and share your results with the industry. 

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Ace of Spaces

Exceptional sourcing and space design

The best events start with the right space. This award celebrates the sourcing and space design experts who turn venue selection into a competitive advantage. They're using AI-powered discovery in the Cvent Supplier Network to find the right venue faster and centralize RFPs to negotiate smarter, Event Diagramming to collaborate on layouts in real time, or Passkey to automate room blocks that run like clockwork. They've built a sourcing and space management engine that delivers results — not just RFPs.

Two people admiring gold trophy at awards show

Criteria

Must use at least one (1) of the following: Cvent Supplier Network, Event Diagramming, or Passkey. May also include Vendor Marketplace. Use of AI-powered venue discovery, AI-assisted RFP management, or data-driven sourcing insights is encouraged.

Winning Tips

  • Highlight quantitative sourcing outcomes: cycle-time reduction, RFP response rates, cost savings, room block efficiency, or stronger planner-supplier collaboration.
  • Outline positive program-level compliance and reporting impact.
  • Showcase use of more than one eligible solution (Cvent Supplier Network, Event Diagramming, Passkey).
Association & Nonprofit Impact Icon
Two people hugging in audience after winning at awards program

Best use of Cvent to create meaningful impact

Events are how mission-driven organizations move communities. This award celebrates the associations and nonprofits that turn Cvent into their engine for impact — growing membership, mobilizing advocates, raising funds, delivering education, and creating experiences as inclusive as they are unforgettable. AI-powered targeting helps them reach the right members with the right message, personalize the experience, and measure the outcomes that matter to their boards. These organizations elevate events to create outcomes that matter.

Criteria

Must be an association or nonprofit organization with an active Cvent agreement using at least one Cvent solution to power mission-driven programs (Registration, Attendee Hub, OnArrival, Cvent Supplier Network, CE management tools, etc.). Use of AMS, CRM, or MAP integrations is welcome. Applying CventIQ to improve audience targeting, automate outreach, or surface membership and engagement insights is encouraged. Submissions should connect program results directly to mission outcomes and real-world impact.

Winning Tips

  • Connect event activity directly to mission outcomes and include operational wins like cost and time savings.
  • Back it with data: membership growth and renewals, funds raised, CE hours delivered, advocacy actions, volunteer or community engagement, or measurable improvements in inclusivity and reach.
  • Show how CventIQ or other AI-powered tools improved targeting, automated outreach, or surfaced insights that strengthened the program.
Digital Events Visionary
Person presenting on stage at awards show in black outfit

Excellence in virtual events and webinars

The best digital programs don't have an off switch. This award celebrates the demand gen teams running webinar and virtual event programs that scale — building branded registration hubs, producing high-quality live and on-demand content, and using AI-powered engagement signals to surface the leads worth following up on first. Whether it's a webinar series or virtual summit, these nominees don't stop at a great event — they prove what it delivered.

Criteria

Must use Goldcast, ON24, Cvent Webinar, and/or Attendee Hub to power virtual events or webinar programs. May include CRM/MAP integrations. Use of CventIQ to automate follow-up sequences, analyze engagement data, or optimize content recommendations is encouraged.

Winning Tips

  • Show connected workflows, from registration through post-event conversion.
  • Include data-backed results: attendance rates, engagement depth, speed-to-lead, or pipeline and revenue influence.
  • Clearly tie program activity to outcomes across the funnel.
AI Innovator
Woman with red hair clapping at awards program

Best use of AI-powered event intelligence

This award goes to the teams who've made AI a core part of how they plan, execute, and prove event success. These nominees don't use CventIQ as a feature — they use it as a strategy. AI-powered targeting, automated workflows, smarter sourcing, faster follow-up: they've woven it through the full event lifecycle and have the results to show for it. They don't talk about AI adoption. They show what it delivers.

Criteria

Must use CventIQ to demonstrate how AI-powered capabilities drove measurable improvements across the event lifecycle. May span any Cvent product suite. Submissions should demonstrate measurable impact on event success and process improvements with CventIQ, along with innovative use cases. Use of additional AI-powered tools alongside CventIQ is welcome and encouraged. 

Winning Tips

  • Show how AI — particularly CventIQ — translated into real, measurable improvements for the organization.
  • Back it with data: time savings, stronger audience targeting, faster lead follow-up, better attribution, or AI-assisted decisions that drove clear business results.
  • Demonstrate how you made AI use repeatable — standardizing processes, permissions, and governance so results scale across the organization, not just one event.
Marketing Mastermind
Woman in red dress with blonde hair holding glass trophy

Best event-led growth strategy

Events aren't just moments. They're your most powerful growth channel. This award celebrates the marketers who've turned event-led growth into an actual business strategy — launching field events, roadshows, and community experiences at speed, and owning the complete trade show motion from pre-booked meetings to captured, scored, and routed leads. AI-powered insights reach the right audiences at the right time, and every touchpoint connects to data that proves it worked. Whether these nominees are driving regional events or commanding the trade show floor, they know exactly which events move the business — and they have the numbers to prove it.

Criteria

Must use at least one of the following to power event-led growth: Cvent Registration, Cvent Essentials, Splash, iCapture, or Jifflenow. Additional Cvent solutions and CRM/MAP integrations are welcome. Use of CventIQ or other AI-powered features to automate workflows, score leads, improve targeting, or surface performance insights is strongly encouraged.

Winning Tips

  • Show an orchestrated, multi-format event strategy that fuels pipeline, revenue, and brand impact.
  • Highlight how that strategy elevated attendee experiences.
  • Prove clear business outcomes: pipeline influenced, revenue attributed, lead volume and quality, meeting set/show rates, speed-to-lead, or measurable engagement lift.
Rookie of the Year
Woman in white dress waving at camera

Cvent newcomer of the year

This award celebrates the newcomers who hit the ground running with Cvent — standing up on-brand event pages, syncing data to their martech stack, and launching programs with speed and confidence before most teams have finished onboarding. Many of these nominees are already embracing AI-powered tools like CventIQ to accelerate workflows, sharpen targeting, and drive efficiencies. These teams don't waste a moment, using Cvent's powerful solutions to elevate their event program from day one.

Criteria

Must use at least one (1) Cvent solution and have signed their first Cvent agreement no earlier than June 1, 2025. May include additional martech integrations. Use of AI-powered features like CventIQ to accelerate early adoption and impact is a plus.

Winning Tips

  • Show data-backed impact within your first year using Cvent.
  • Include metrics such as faster time-to-launch, high percentage of events onboarded, stronger registration and attendance rates, measurable pipeline influence, or meaningful operational improvements.
  • Showcase ongoing optimization efforts, best practice development, or positive brand impact from your Cvent partnership.
Pivotal Partner

Cvent Partner of the year

The strongest event programs aren't built alone. This award celebrates the Cvent partners who make the Cvent ecosystem their competitive edge — bringing sourcing, marketing, and onsite execution together as one unified motion for their clients. These partners use AI-powered tools to plan smarter programs, sharpen targeting, and deliver the connected data and insights clients need to prove impact. Most impressively, they build repeatable, data-backed programs that keep clients coming back.

Two women celebrating winning at awards program

Criteria

Must be a travel, events, and/or meetings management company or agency with an active Cvent agreement. Must demonstrate use of at least three (3) Cvent solutions to power successful client programs with measurable outcomes. Use of CventIQ to drive AI-powered efficiencies, improve targeting, or surface performance insights across client programs is encouraged.

Winning Tips

  • Show impact on two fronts — results delivered for clients and growth earned by the agency — with concrete metrics for both.
  • Demonstrate how Cvent helped standardize delivery at scale: sharper data quality, a connected view of performance, faster launches, higher engagement, and stronger pipeline influence.
  • Show how consistent, data-backed delivery fueled agency growth through new clients, expanded services, or improved retention and renewal rates.
  • Highlight how CventIQ or other AI-powered workflows sharpened targeting, streamlined planning, or surfaced insights for clients and the agency.
Power of the Platform: Flagship Event
4 presenters on stage at the Excellence Awards

Best use of the Cvent platform for a single, large-scale event

This award celebrates the teams who treat their marquee event like the mission-critical program it is — running registration, content, onsite operations, exhibitor experiences, and post-event reporting as one connected system. AI-powered intelligence runs through every phase, with smarter audience targeting before doors open, real-time insights while the event runs, and automated follow-up that makes sure no lead goes cold after it. These nominees don't just pull off a great event. They prove what it was worth.

Criteria

Must use at least three (3) Cvent solutions to power a single, large-scale event. May also include CRM/MAP integrations. Use of CventIQ across planning, execution, or post-event analysis is encouraged and will strengthen submissions.

Winning Tips

  • Show data-backed outcomes tied to a single event: attendance and engagement lift, exhibitor and sponsor ROI, speed-to-lead, pipeline influenced, or overall event ROI.
  • Explain how the connected Cvent ecosystem helped streamline workflows, improve attribution, and accelerate follow-up.
Power of the Platform: Total Event Program
Two women accepting award on stage with three executives at awards program

Best use of the Cvent platform across a total event program

This award goes to the teams who've stopped thinking in individual tools and started thinking in systems. These nominees have built a fully connected event operation where every solution feeds the next, every data point has somewhere to go, and AI-powered insights drive smarter decisions across the entire program. From sourcing to post-event reporting, they run one unified playbook across every event type and tier. For these nominees, Cvent isn't just part of the stack — it's the engine that powers all of it.

Criteria

Must use at least three (3) Cvent solutions across the event lifecycle at scale. Use of meeting request forms and workflows is a plus. May include CRM/MAP integrations. Use of CventIQ to drive program-wide intelligence, automate workflows, or improve attribution across the portfolio is strongly encouraged.

Winning Tips

  • Demonstrate true organizational impact across multiple event types.
  • Back it with data: improved event metrics, stronger pipeline conversion, or measurable revenue influence.
  • Show how the connected Cvent ecosystem streamlines operations, sharpens attribution, and drives better follow-up.
  • Prove your approach is consistent and repeatable, tying events to measurable business outcomes.
Cvent Advocate of the Year
Woman in black pants and beige jacket accepting gold award on stage with three hosts in black tie dress

Top engaged Cvent user

The Cvent Advocate of the Year is the go-to voice for Cvent expertise in their organization and across their community — earning certifications, driving conversations, shaping the product through feedback, and showing up on stages to speak to the power of Cvent. They're eager adopters of new capabilities, including AI-powered tools like CventIQ. Most importantly, they're not just champions of the platform. They're champions of what events can do — and they're not shy about proving it.

* This is a People's Choice award, publicly voted on by the Cvent community.

Criteria

Must be an individual, active Cvent user who promotes Cvent within their organization or network and actively participates in at least one (1) advocacy activity such as the Cvent Community, Cvent Academy, beta programs, speaking engagements (webinars, Cvent CONNECT, podcast, etc.), reference program, or Customer Success Groups.

Winning Tips

  • Show how your Cvent advocacy created real impact: influencing peers, driving adoption across your organization, or elevating how your team uses the platform.
  • Highlight specific moments: sharing best practices, championing new workflows, or helping others get more out of Cvent, including AI-powered tools like CventIQ.
  • Strengthen your case with community recognition, internal visibility, and demonstrated peer influence.

Want help getting started?

Download and open the below free submission guide and AI skill to help you create an award-worthy application in minutes. 

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In their own words

Hear from the finalists and winners who've been in the spotlight.

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"The Excellence Awards were so fun for us as marketers. We had no idea what to expect and we were shocked when we won. We immediately knew we want to submit again so I'm looking forward to that because it was an amazing experience."

- Suzanne B., Inovalon

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"We're so excited to be an awards finalist. It's important to just put yourself out there because there are these small non-profits that are churning out these amazing events that deserve to be recognized. I feel like a winner already!"

- Gabrielle V., ADL

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"It's been a dream of EMC's to win an Excellence Award for a long time. It proves the value of our partnership and our true collaboration with Cvent, and we're very honored to be part of that." 

- Megan M., EMC Meetings & Events

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"We're thrilled to be a finalist! With us being a smaller organization, it just credits the work that we do. We are a small team but have a big impact, and I think that's one of the things that will show if we should win." 

- Brandon J., Children's Trust