Nominations for the 2026 Insurance Business Canada Awards are open, and entering is simpler than many assume. There is no fee, and the call is open to all insurance professionals and organizations across Canada – brokers, brokerages, insurers, underwriters, MGAs, risk managers and service providers.
The date that matters: nominations run from May 5 to July 24, 2026, closing at 11:59 pm ET.
Go to the Nominate page of the awards website, enter the nominee's contact details, and give a brief reason for the nomination within a 300-word limit. There is no fee to submit. You can nominate someone else or put your own organization forward, and the short limit is deliberate – this stage is about who deserves recognition and why, not a full case. That comes later, and only if the nominee advances.
The slate splits into individual and organizational awards, so the first step is matching the nominee to the right one. Individual honours run from the regional and national Insurance Broker of the Year titles through CEO, Underwriter, Business Development Manager and Life & Health Advisor of the Year, plus the Young Achiever (for brokers 40 or under), Woman of Distinction, and the top honour, Lifetime Achievement. Organizational awards cover P&C, Life & Health, Cyber and MGA of the Year, three brokerage titles by staff size, and awards for claims, insurtech, digital innovation, DEI, philanthropy and customer experience. Each category lists its own judging criteria on the nomination page – worth a read before writing those 300 words.
A nomination begins a five-stage process. After the window closes, the awards team conducts its own research, drawing on Insurance Business Canada's knowledge to supplement nominations so no one deserving is missed. Excellence awardees are then selected in each category (except Lifetime Achievement), notified by email or phone, and invited to complete a detailed submission against the criteria – kept confidential and shared only with judges. Excellence awardees are announced in September 2026.
An independent panel of industry leaders then assesses those submissions, with voting beginning in October 2026 and any conflicted judge recusing themselves. Using a points system, the top-scoring finalist in each category is named the winner, announced at the awards show on November 17, 2026.
The only real mistake is to wait. Almost everything – research, submissions, judging – happens after the window closes, so it all hinges on getting a name in before 11:59 pm ET on July 24. It's free and takes minutes.
