CPC Awards of Excellence

Annual Competition Recognizing Outstanding Career Professionals

CPC Awards of Excellence Program

Submissions for the 2024 competition are being accepted now!

Career Professionals of Canada is committed to setting the standard for excellence in our field. Recognizing outstanding individuals is one of our most important activities.

If you are a CPC member, we invite and encourage you to participate in our prestigious Awards of Excellence program. Self-submission may not come naturally for you, but you deserve to be recognized. The truth is that submitting your name and work is an effective and legitimate way of promoting your accomplishments. You know yourself better than anyone else!

Step 1 – Read and follow the guidelines.

Step 2 – Select up to 2 categories (below).

Step 3 – Complete one submission form for each nomination.

Registration is now open, and entries will be accepted until midnight, Pacific Time, July 1, 2024.

Get your submissions in before the deadline. Go for it. You deserve to be recognized!

Handout | Transcript

Awards Submission Guidelines

General Eligibility Rules & Regulations

To qualify for the awards program, entrants must follow all guidelines outlined here:

The entrant must be a member in good standing of Career Professionals of Canada and in compliance with CPC’s Code of Professional Conduct. Current CPC employees and subcontractors may not participate in this program.
Entrants may submit two separate and distinct submissions in different categories. To be accepted, submissions must satisfy all the requirements of a category.
Submissions are accepted in .pdf file format only through the Awards of Excellence Nomination Form. Entry file names must be structured as follows: EntrantFirstName-EntrantLastName-Award Category Name.pdf
Entrants grant CPC the right to disclose their submissions to judges for evaluation.
Submissions received after the deadline will not be accepted.

Awards of Excellence Judging

Nominations are evaluated by an independent Awards Judging Team. Judges volunteer their time and expertise to the process. If a judge enters a submission for consideration, they may not judge that category.

Judging is done on a points-based evaluation system. Marking standards are based on standardized assessment protocols, member capabilities, and current standards in Canada.

For professional categories, judges make their award recipient selections independently and impartially on a consistent ballot (evaluation form).
For résumé categories, judges evaluate submissions based on The Canadian Résumé Strategist Certification Study Guide (e-book). Sample résumé(s) with significant structural, spelling and grammatical errors may be disqualified.
Candidates with 95% or above qualify as winners. Candidates with 90% or above qualify as honorable mentions. All other qualifying candidates are nominees.
There may be multiple candidates selected as winners or honourable mentions. In the case of no winners or honourable mentions, judges may select the next strongest candidate based on marks as a replacement winner or honourable mention. If there are no eligible entries for a specific category, no winner will be awarded.
Decisions made by the Awards Judging Team are final.

Award recipients are formally announced in September in the Career Connections Newsletter. All names will be listed on the CPC site. All recipients will receive a soft-copy award logo for self-marketing purposes. Winners and honourable mentions will be able to access their certificate by logging into their CPC account.

Professional Categories

Entrants must follow all general entry rules and regulations outlined above. By submitting for the professional categories, entrants also agree to the following additional rules and regulations. For each submission, entrants must:

Complete their submission themselves.
Explain the reason for the nomination in a 500-word strategy statement.
Include documents and links to provide evidence and support the strategy statement.
Merge the strategy statement and supporting documents into one .pdf file which does not exceed five pages in total.
Structure the submission file name as follows: EntrantFirstName-EntrantLastName-Award Category Name.pdf

Example for reference (includes a strategy statement example):

Komal Parekh – Outstanding Employment Interview Strategist

Outstanding Career Leader (Top Award - National Impact)

This award recognizes outstanding contributions to the advancement of career development in Canada. In your submission, you must:

Demonstrate your depth of experience in a prominent leadership role within career development or a related area.
Explain how you have made an exceptional and profound impact on the Canadian career development profession.

Examples: You have issued a noteworthy paper or publication, have instituted a significant innovation, were instrumental in pioneering a new strategy or approach, and/or have delivered tangible and documented volunteer, public service, humanitarian, or have made charitable efforts that have significantly impacted the field nationally.

Outstanding Career Professional

This award recognizes outstanding achievements by a practitioner providing clients with strategic career development support services. In your submission, you must:

Demonstrate how your work experience supports your clients in career development, employment consulting, or a related area.
Provide examples of work product you have produced for your employer, organization, business, and/or clients.

Outstanding Community Outreach Strategist

This award recognizes outstanding achievements by a practitioner providing community outreach related to career development. In your submission you must:

Demonstrate how your work experience supports community outreach, job development, resource development, stakeholder engagement, or a related area.
Provide examples of work product you have produced for your employer, organization, business, and/or clients.

Outstanding Employment Interview Strategist

This award recognizes outstanding achievements by a practitioner providing clients with strategic employment interview support services. In your submission, you must:

Demonstrate how your work experience supports client in employment interview coaching, employment interview consulting, or a related area.
Provide examples of work product you have produced for your employer, organization, business, and/or clients.

Outstanding Social Media Strategist

This award recognizes outstanding achievements by a practitioner providing clients with social media support related to career development. In your submission, you must:

Demonstrate work experience in social media virtual profiles, blogging, online branding, social networking, and/or a related area.
Provide examples of your social media activities that have produced a tangible contribution to your employer, organization, business, and/or clients.

Résumé Categories

Entrants must follow all general entry rules and regulations outlined above. By submitting résumé samples, entrants also agree to the following additional rules and regulations. For each submission, entrants must:

Submit a sample résumé that they have developed on their own and without any assistance from others.
Use their own name in the header of the sample résumé being submitted.
Fictionalize the sample to protect the privacy and confidentiality of clients and anyone else who might be identified.
Explain their rationalization for the submitted résumé in a 500-word strategy statement.
Merge the strategy statement and sample résumé into one (1) .pdf file.
Submission file names must be structured as follows: EntrantFirstName-EntrantLastName-Award Category Name.pdf

Entrants understand and agree that:

Sample résumé(s) that have previously been published or won other contests do not qualify for this competition.
Their submission may be published at Career Professionals of Canada's discretion (e.g., website, e-book).

Refer to The Canadian Résumé Strategist Certification Study Guide (e-book) for résumé best practices and composition rules.

Examples for reference (each includes a strategy statement example):

Lori Jazvac – Outstanding Résumé, Creative

Rita Kamel – Outstanding Résumé, Career Change

Barb Penney – Outstanding Résumé, New Graduate Entry Level

Outstanding Résumé, Career Change

This award recognizes outstanding career-change résumé writing abilities. The "career change" must reflect a different role in the same industry, the same role in a different industry, or an entirely different role in a different industry.

The résumé must include a strong value proposition for the new direction, a strategy that highlights transferable skills, language and grammar that shows understanding of the target role and industry, and a design that mitigates obstacles to the change.
The strategy statement must discuss how all the aspects above were addressed.

Outstanding Résumé, Creative

This award recognizes outstanding creative résumé writing abilities. Your submission will demonstrate your expertise in developing and designing creative résumés that exceed current industry standards.

The résumé must include an original value proposition, an innovative strategy, and an imaginative design.
The strategy statement must discuss how all the aspects above were addressed.

Outstanding Résumé, Executive

This award recognizes outstanding executive résumé writing abilities. An "executive" may be a top-rung corporate chief, a senior manager or other leader within the organization.

The résumé must include a value proposition, strategy, and design that is reflective of the position, level, industry, and status of the candidate and the role being targeted.
The strategy statement must discuss how all the aspects above were addressed.

Outstanding Résumé, Internationally Educated Professional

This award recognizes outstanding résumé writing for internationally educated professionals. The résumé must be for an entrant from another country to the Canadian market.

The résumé must include a value proposition that is appropriate for a transition to Canada, a strategy that leverages skills for success in the Canadian labour market, and a design that is suitable for the Canadian market.
The strategy statement must discuss how all the aspects above were addressed.

Outstanding Résumé, New Graduate Entry Level

This award recognizes outstanding résumé writing for new graduates and entry-level clients.

The résumé must be for an early-career entrant into the labour market. It must include a strong value proposition for entry into a role, a strategy that highlights educational or other transferrable skills, and a design that is appropriate for the level of the position.
The strategy statement must discuss how all the aspects above were addressed.

Outstanding Résumé, Technical

This award recognizes outstanding résumé writing for technical professionals. A "technical professional" is a person who is targeting a position that involves technology, telecommunications, engineering, or related area.

The résumé must include a value proposition, strategy, and design that is reflective of technical expertise required of the role being targeted.
The strategy statement must discuss how all the aspects above were addressed.

Executive Director's Award

Executive Director’s Awards: Outstanding Volunteer Contributors

This award recognizes outstanding volunteer contributions to the development and support of Career Professionals of Canada by exhibiting such exceptional devotion of time, effort, thought, and action as to set them apart from other contributors. Recipients have contributed a minimum of 20 hours of dedicated and meaningful service to CPC within a one-year period. The recipients of this award are selected at the discretion of our Executive Director and approved by the judging team.

Submit Nomination

Previous Awards of Excellence Recipients

If you have any questions about the Awards of Excellence program, please e-mail awards@CareerProCanada.ca.

Career Professionals of Canada

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