Awards for Excellence FAQ
The questions below address eligibility, submission requirements, judging, and recognition. If your query is not covered here, please contact awards@regulationasia.com.
We’re here to help and look forward to receiving your submission!
Eligibility and Categories
The Regulation Asia Awards for Excellence are open to financial institutions, market infrastructures, technology firms, advisory practices, regulators and industry bodies.
The programme recognises both in-house institutional initiatives and external solution providers whose work has made a substantive contribution to regulatory practice, compliance, risk management or market integrity in the Asia-Pacific region.
Yes. Submissions are accepted from firms globally, provided the work being entered is live in the Asia-Pacific region or has demonstrable regional relevance. Where a firm is newly entering the region or establishing its presence, the submission should clearly outline the intended regional impact and deployment.
Yes. Organisations of all sizes may enter, provided they meet the relevant category criteria.
Submissions are assessed on merit against defined category standards. Scale alone does not determine the outcome; emphasis is placed on demonstrable impact, execution and contribution to regulatory practice within Asia-Pacific.
In most cases, yes. The majority of solution categories are open to both external solution providers and financial institutions entering in-house initiatives, and are judged on the same substantive criteria.
A small number of categories are, by their nature, restricted to a particular type of entrant. Data provider categories are open only to external providers, as they recognise a commercially supplied dataset. Certain categories recognising what an institution itself does — such as operational and cyber resilience, compliance training and awareness, and the regulatory innovation project award — are open only to financial institutions and comparable organisations. Categories recognising exchanges, market infrastructures, industry associations, regulators, and regulatory initiatives are open to those institutions alone, and the Lifetime Achievement Award is by nomination of an individual.
The submission form will display only the categories available to your organisation type. Applicants should respond to the questions applicable to their submission, and entries are assessed on the basis of the information provided against the defined criteria for that category. If there is uncertainty regarding category suitability, please contact us prior to submission.
Yes. Each category requires a separate submission, so that responses are tailored to the specific assessment criteria for that award.
There is no limit to the number of categories an organisation may enter, provided each submission meets the relevant eligibility and category requirements. However, each entry must stand on its own merits. Every submission asks the entrant to articulate why that entry is uniquely suited to the category in question and, where an organisation is entering more than one award, what distinguishes that entry from its others.
This is assessed before scoring. Submissions that are substantively duplicated across categories, or that do not demonstrate a clear, category-specific rationale, may not proceed to shortlisting — irrespective of the quality of the underlying work. Entrants are strongly encouraged to enter fewer categories well, rather than many categories generically.
Please note that a single organisation may receive only one award across the regulatory and initiative categories in any given year.
General Submission Questions
Yes. Joint submissions are permitted where work has been delivered in partnership across multiple organisations.
The submission should clearly describe the respective roles and contributions of each participating organisation. Recognition will reflect the nature of the collaboration as presented in the entry.
Before beginning a submission, please ensure you have:
- The category or categories being entered
- A clear description of the initiative, programme or work submitted
- Responses addressing the category-specific assessment questions
- Supporting evidence, including measurable outcomes, metrics or client references where available
- Contact details for a nominated point of contact
Responses should generally be limited to 200–300 words per question, unless otherwise indicated. Each submission typically takes approximately 20–30 minutes to complete
Yes. Submissions may be saved and returned to at any time prior to the submission deadline. Applicants are responsible for ensuring that all required sections are completed before final submission.
Yes. Revisions may be made at any time prior to the submission deadline. Following the deadline, submissions are considered final and cannot be amended.
If assistance is required before the deadline, please contact awards@regulationasia.com.
Submission materials are treated as confidential and used solely for the purposes of the awards assessment process. No information from a submission is published or shared publicly without the submitting organisation’s explicit authorisation.
Materials are securely retained for the duration of the awards process and deleted thereafter.
No. There are no fees to enter, be shortlisted, or win. Awards are determined solely on merit by the independent judging panel.
Participation in any post-awards promotional activity is optional and has no bearing on the judging outcome.
Due to the volume of submissions, individualised feedback is not guaranteed. Organisations seeking general guidance for future submissions may contact awards@regulationasia.com.
Submissions must be accurate and complete to the best of the submitting organisation’s knowledge. Where material inaccuracies or misleading statements are identified during the review process, the judging panel may request clarification, decline the submission or disqualify the entry.
If such issues are identified after recognition has been granted, Regulation Asia reserves the right to review the award status.
Where appropriate, Regulation Asia may recommend reassignment of a submission to a more suitable category. Final placement is determined in consultation with the submitting organisation.
Yes. A submission may be withdrawn at any time prior to the announcement of shortlisted organisations. Requests for withdrawal should be submitted in writing to awards@regulationasia.com.
Judging and Evaluation
Submissions are assessed by an independent panel of senior industry practitioners with experience across regulatory, compliance, risk, supervisory and market infrastructure functions in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Regulation Asia awards team administers the process and supports coordination, but does not independently determine outcomes. Judging is structurally separated from Regulation Asia’s editorial and reporting operations.
Each category is assessed against defined, award-specific criteria. The submission questions map directly to the dimensions judges score, so entrants are asked precisely what the panel evaluates.
Every entry is scored against a consistent framework:
· Category-specific dimensions. Four dimensions unique to the award, reflecting what that category is designed to recognise. These carry the majority of the score.
· Regional relevance and impact within Asia-Pacific.
· Material developments and measurable outcomes over the past 12 months. For these purposes, the assessment period is the 12 months to 30 June 2026. Organisations that have entered previously are required to state clearly what has materially changed; entries that rely on prior-year positioning are scored accordingly.
· Responsible use of AI and model governance, where applicable. Where an entry uses AI or models, the panel assesses how responsibly they are governed — explainability, model risk management, validation, monitoring and data governance. This dimension recognises the quality of governance, not the adoption of AI. Where an entry does not use AI or models, the dimension is set aside, the remaining criteria are re-weighted accordingly, and the entry is neither advantaged nor disadvantaged. Entrants should not overstate the role of AI in their submission.
Each dimension is scored against a four-band standard, and the weighting applied to each dimension is fixed in advance and applied consistently to every entry within a category. Specific weightings are not publicly disclosed.
Submissions are assessed on demonstrable outcomes, technical execution, and substantive contribution, supported by evidence. Unsupported or generic claims are scored accordingly.
Members of the judging panel are required to declare any actual or potential conflicts of interest prior to the commencement of the review process.
Where a conflict is identified, the relevant judge will recuse themselves from assessing the affected submission.
No. Direct contact with members of the judging panel in relation to submissions is not permitted. All queries regarding categories, eligibility or the submission process should be directed to awards@regulationasia.com.
Awards Process and Recognition
Shortlisted organisations will be notified directly. Additional clarification or supporting information may be requested during the final stage of review.
Winners will be announced at the Regulation Asia Awards for Excellence 2026 ceremony and subsequently recognised in Regulation Asia’s editorial coverage.
Yes. Winners may reference their award in corporate communications, press releases and marketing materials, provided such references are accurate and clearly attributed to the relevant award year and category.
Where applicable, winners will be provided with an official award mark and accompanying usage guidelines following the awards ceremony.
No. Awards are granted on merit against defined category standards. Where submissions do not meet the required threshold, a category may not produce a recipient. Conversely, where multiple submissions meet the standard, more than one organisation may be recognised.
Key Dates and Contact Information
Submissions close on Thursday, 20 August 2026 at 6:00 PM SGT/HKT. Judging takes place following the submission deadline. Shortlisted organisations will be notified directly, and winners will be announced at the Awards for Excellence 2026 ceremony.
Any updates to key dates will be communicated via regulationasia.com or the awards website.
