CPC Awards of Excellence

CPC is now accepting Awards of Excellence submissions for 2022

Career Professionals of Canada is committed to setting the standard for excellence in our field. We strive to inspire and enable you to empower yourself and advance your goals. CPC Awards of Excellence Program

If you are a CPC member, we invite and encourage you to submit your name for consideration in our prestigious Awards of Excellence. Recognizing outstanding individuals in our profession is one of our most important activities.

We understand that self-submission may not come naturally — you may not be comfortable giving yourself the pat on the back you deserve. The truth is that it is an effective and legitimate way of promoting yourself and your outstanding work. You know yourself and your accomplishments better than anyone else!

Step 1 – Review and select up to 3 categories (below).
Step 2 – Read and follow the submission procedures exactly.
Step 3 – Complete one nomination submission form for each nomination.

Get your submission(s) in before the July 1, 2022 deadline. Go for it. You deserve to be recognized!

Awards of Excellence Categories and Requirements

Outstanding Career Leader

This award recognizes outstanding contributions to the advancement of career development in Canada by a prominent leader within the profession.

Submission Checklist:

Ensure your professional membership with Career Professionals of Canada is current, you have checked the ethics statement on your profile, and you are in good standing with CPC.
Prepare a complete nomination package for a successful submission.
Submit a 500-word statement outlining the reason for nomination. You must demonstrate work experience supporting clients in career development, employment consulting, work-life coaching, or a related area.
You must show that you have made an exceptional and profound impact on the Canadian career development field in a prominent leadership role. 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.
Include additional supporting documents (maximum 5 pages). This may include a sample of documented examples, your résumé, stakeholder testimonials, handouts for clients, and/or coaching/consulting process outline.
Create one .pdf file by merging your statement and supporting documents into one document.
Complete the Awards of Excellence Nomination Form and upload your .pdf file.

Outstanding Career Professional

This award recognizes outstanding achievements by a practitioner providing clients with strategic career development support services.

Submission Checklist:

Ensure your professional membership with Career Professionals of Canada is current, you have checked the ethics statement on your profile, and you are in good standing with CPC.
Prepare a complete nomination package for a successful submission.
Submit a 500-word statement outlining the reason for nomination. You must demonstrate work experience supporting clients in career development, employment consulting, or a related area. You must show that you have produced a tangible contribution to your employer, organization, business, and/or clients.
Include additional supporting documents (maximum 5 pages). This may include a sample of documented examples, your résumé, stakeholder testimonials, handouts for clients, and/or coaching/consulting process outline.
Create one .pdf file by merging your statement and supporting documents into one document.
Complete the Awards of Excellence Nomination Form and upload your .pdf file.

Outstanding Community Outreach Strategist

This award recognizes outstanding achievements by a practitioner providing community outreach related to career development.

Submission Checklist:

Ensure your professional membership with Career Professionals of Canada is current, you have checked the ethics statement on your profile, and you are in good standing with CPC.
Prepare a complete nomination package for a successful submission.
Submit a 500-word statement outlining the reason for nomination. You must demonstrate work experience in community outreach, job development, resource development, stakeholder engagement or a related area. You must show that you have produced a tangible contribution to your employer, organization, business, and/or clients.
Include additional supporting documents (maximum 5 pages). This may include a sample of documented examples, your résumé, stakeholder testimonials, handouts for clients, and/or coaching/consulting process outline.
Create one .pdf file by merging your statement and supporting documents into one document.
Complete the Awards of Excellence Nomination Form and upload your .pdf file.

Outstanding Social Media Strategist

This award recognizes outstanding achievements by a practitioner providing clients with social media support related to career development.

Submission Checklist:

Ensure your professional membership with Career Professionals of Canada is current, you have checked the ethics statement on your profile, and you are in good standing with CPC.
Prepare a complete nomination package for a successful submission.
Submit a 500-word statement outlining the reason for nomination. You must demonstrate work experience in social media (i.e. LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram), virtual profiles, blogging, online branding, social networking, and/or a related area. You must show that you have produced a tangible contribution to your employer, organization, business, and/or clients.
Include additional supporting documents (maximum 5 pages). This may include hyperlinks to social media sites, campaign analytics, and/or endorsements/testimonials supporting the nomination. For example, you might include hyperlinks to a LinkedIn Profile, LinkedIn Group, Website, Blog, Twitter Campaign, Facebook Update, and/or Google Drive Working Document.
Create one .pdf file by merging your statement and supporting documents into one document.
Complete the Awards of Excellence Nomination Form and upload your .pdf file.

Outstanding Employment Interview Strategist

This award recognizes outstanding achievements by a practitioner providing clients with strategic employment interview support services.

Submission Checklist:

Ensure your professional membership with Career Professionals of Canada is current, you have checked the ethics statement on your profile, and you are in good standing with CPC.
Prepare a complete nomination package for a successful submission.
Submit a 500-word statement outlining the reason for nomination. You must demonstrate work experience in employment interview coaching, employment interview consulting, or a related area. You must show that you have produced a tangible contribution to your employer, organization, business, and/or clients.
Include additional supporting documents (maximum 5 pages). This may include a sample of documented examples, your résumé, stakeholder testimonials, handouts for clients, and/or coaching/consulting process outline.
Create one .pdf file by merging your statement and supporting documents into one document.
Complete the Awards of Excellence Nomination Form and upload your .pdf file.

Outstanding Résumé – Internationally Educated Professional (IEP)

This award recognizes outstanding résumé writing for internationally educated professionals, such that set the writer and/or strategist apart from other contributors. The candidate must demonstrate experience developing and creating résumés for international entrants to the Canadian market that exceed current industry standards.

Submission Checklist:

Ensure your professional membership with Career Professionals of Canada is current, you have checked the ethics statement on your profile, and you are in good standing with CPC.
Submit one IEP résumé sample that you have developed without any assistance from others.
Fictionalize your résumé sample (using your own name in the header) to protect the privacy and confidentiality of your client and anyone else who might be identified. If you are including a résumé sample that cannot be sufficiently fictionalized, obtain approval from anyone who can be identified.
Provide rationalization of your strategy in developing the résumé in a 500-word statement.
Discuss how you addressed the international entrant in all aspects of the résumé: value proposition, structure, design, spelling, grammar, and handling of obstacles.
Create one .pdf file by merging the Sample Résumé and Strategy Statement into one document.
Complete the Awards of Excellence Nomination Form and upload your .pdf file.

Outstanding Résumé – New Graduate / Entry-Level Professional

This award recognizes outstanding résumé writing for early-career new graduates and entry-level clients, such that set the writer and/or strategist apart from other contributors. The candidate must demonstrate experience developing and creating résumés for new entrants that exceed current industry standards.

Submission Checklist:

Ensure your professional membership with Career Professionals of Canada is current, you have checked the ethics statement on your profile, and you are in good standing with CPC.
Submit one new graduate/entry-level professional résumé sample that you have developed without any assistance from others.
Fictionalize your résumé sample (using your own name in the header) to protect the privacy and confidentiality of your client and anyone else who might be identified. If you are including a résumé sample that cannot be sufficiently fictionalized, obtain approval from anyone who can be identified.
Provide rationalization of your strategy in developing the résumé in a 500-word statement.
Discuss how you addressed the new entrant in all aspects of the résumé: value proposition, structure, design, spelling, grammar, and handling of obstacles.
Create one .pdf file by merging the Sample Résumé and Strategy Statement into one document.
Complete the Awards of Excellence Nomination Form and upload your .pdf file.

Outstanding Résumé – Career Change

This award recognizes outstanding career-change résumé writing abilities, such that set the writer and/or strategist apart from other contributors. The candidate must demonstrate experience developing and creating career change résumés that exceed current industry standards.

Submission Checklist:

Ensure your professional membership with Career Professionals of Canada is current, you have checked the ethics statement on your profile, and you are in good standing with CPC.
Submit one career change résumé sample that you have developed without any assistance from others.
Fictionalize your résumé sample (using your own name in the header) to protect the privacy and confidentiality of your client and anyone else who might be identified. If you are including a résumé sample that cannot be sufficiently fictionalized, obtain approval from anyone who can be identified.
Provide rationalization of your strategy in developing the résumé in a 500-word statement.
Discuss how you addressed the career change in all aspects of the résumé: value proposition, structure, design, spelling, grammar, and handling of obstacles.
Create one .pdf file by merging the Sample Résumé and Strategy Statement into one document.
Complete the Awards of Excellence Nomination Form and upload your .pdf file.

Outstanding Résumé – Technical

This award recognizes outstanding résumé writing for technical professionals, such that set the writer and/or strategist apart from other contributors. The candidate must demonstrate experience developing and creating résumés for technical professionals that exceed current industry standards. that exceed current industry standards.

Submission Checklist:

Ensure your professional membership with Career Professionals of Canada is current, you have checked the ethics statement on your profile, and you are in good standing with CPC.
Submit one technical résumé sample that you have developed without any assistance from others.
Fictionalize your résumé sample (using your own name in the header) to protect the privacy and confidentiality of your client and anyone else who might be identified. If you are including a résumé sample that cannot be sufficiently fictionalized, obtain approval from anyone who can be identified.
Provide rationalization of your strategy in developing the résumé in a 500-word statement.
Discuss how you represented the technical professional in all aspects of the résumé: value proposition, structure, design, spelling, grammar, and handling of obstacles.
Create one .pdf file by merging the Sample Résumé and Strategy Statement into one document.
Complete the Awards of Excellence Nomination Form and upload your .pdf file.

Outstanding Résumé – Executive

This award recognizes outstanding executive résumé writing abilities, such that set the writer and/or strategist apart from other contributors. The candidate must demonstrate experience developing and creating executive résumés that exceed current industry standards.

Submission Checklist:

Ensure your professional membership with Career Professionals of Canada is current, you have checked the ethics statement on your profile, and you are in good standing with CPC.
Submit one executive résumé sample that you have developed without any assistance from others.
Fictionalize your résumé sample (using your own name in the header) to protect the privacy and confidentiality of your client and anyone else who might be identified. If you are including a résumé sample that cannot be sufficiently fictionalized, obtain approval from anyone who can be identified.
Provide rationalization of your strategy in developing the résumé in a 500-word statement.
Discuss how you represented the executive in all aspects of the résumé: value proposition, structure, design, spelling, grammar, and handling of obstacles.
Create one .pdf file by merging the Sample Résumé and Strategy Statement into one document.
Complete the Awards of Excellence Nomination Form and upload your .pdf file.

Outstanding Résumé – Creative

This award recognizes outstanding creative résumé writing abilities, such that set the writer and/or strategist apart from other contributors. The candidate must demonstrate experience developing and creating creative résumés that exceed current industry standards.

Submission Checklist:

Ensure your professional membership with Career Professionals of Canada is current, you have checked the ethics statement on your profile, and you are in good standing with CPC.
Submit one creative résumé sample that you have developed without any assistance from others.
Fictionalize your résumé sample (using your own name in the header) to protect the privacy and confidentiality of your client and anyone else who might be identified. If you are including a résumé sample that cannot be sufficiently fictionalized, obtain approval from anyone who can be identified.
Provide rationalization of your strategy in developing the résumé in a 500-word statement.
Discuss creativity in all aspects of the résumé: value proposition, structure, design, spelling, grammar, and handling of obstacles.
Create one .pdf file by merging the Sample Résumé and Strategy Statement into one document.
Complete the Awards of Excellence Nomination Form and upload your .pdf file.

Executive Director’s Awards: Outstanding Volunteer Contributors

The recipients of this award are selected at the discretion of our Executive Director and approved by the judging committee.

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.

The recipient must meet the following criteria:

Is a current professional member, in good standing, of Career Professionals of Canada.
Has provided a meaningful voluntary contribution to Career Professionals of Canada.
Has provided outstanding volunteer support by contributing a minimum of 20 hours of dedicated service to CPC within a one-year period.

Submission Guidelines

Submitters are eligible for one (1) distinct entry per category for a maximum of three (3) different categories. They must follow submission procedures exactly. Failure to follow submission guidelines results in elimination from the competition. Only those submissions selected by our Awards Judging Team will be nominated.

For the Outstanding Volunteer Contributor category, submissions are not accepted as the selections are made by the Executive Director.

Any submissions received after the July 1 deadline may be considered for the following year. Upon receipt of all submissions for the current year, the Awards Judging Team will convene to determine award recipients (Winners, Honourable Mentions, and Nominees). If submission(s) do not qualify for the current year based on the category outline and/or these submission guidelines, the submitter will be notified via email.

Submitters grant CPC the right to disclose the complete nomination submission to judges for evaluation. If all or part of a submission is to be published widely for marketing and/or educational purposes, CPC will request prior approval from the submitter. Depending on the purpose of the publication, CPC reserves the right to edit the submission.

Awards of Excellence Judging

Nominations are evaluated by an independent Award Judging Team. Judges volunteer their time and expertise to the process. CPC selects each award winner based upon the most stringent standards outlined here.

Judges make their award recipient selections independently and impartially on a ballot (evaluation form), in accordance with the nomination procedures.

Judges may not be nominated through CPC’s Awards of Excellence Program.
To ensure a fair and equitable process, nominees in any category may not be judges in the current year.
When more than 3 nominations are received for one CPC member, only the first 3 submissions are eligible.
Entries that are not suitable for a specific category may be moved to another category or disqualified.
If a submission has not satisfied all the requirements of the category, that nomination will be disqualified.
Entries that do not follow submission guidelines outlined here will be disqualified.
Résumé samples with significant structural, spelling, and/or grammatical errors will be disqualified.
If there are no suitable entries for a specific category, there will be no winner awarded for that category.

Award nominees and recipients are formally announced in September in the Career Connections Newsletter.

All qualifying candidates will receive a soft-copy award logo for self-marketing purposes. Winners and Honourable Mentions will receive a certificate via email. All names will be listed on the CPC site.

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

CPC Member Ali Breen tells us why you should submit yourself for nomination. Listen:

Submit Nomination

Career Professionals of Canada

Working Together For Career Success

CPC Awards of Excellence

CPC is now accepting Awards of Excellence submissions for 2022

Awards of Excellence Categories and Requirements

Submission Guidelines

Awards of Excellence Judging