PROCESS

Stage 1 – Nominations

InvestmentNews celebrates achievements that measurably advance women in all aspects of the investment industry, at employers of all sizes. We invite you to nominate yourself or third party candidates and / or companies who exemplify these outstanding accomplishments through their leadership, passion, creativity, and willingness to help others along the way.

Nominations are open from April 20 to June 19, 2026 11:59 pm ET.

To submit a nomination, go to the Nominate page of this website. There is no fee to submit a nomination and only the online nomination form will be accepted.

Nomination submissions are an opportunity to address the category criteria in detail.

Stage 2 – Research

The Women to Watch Awards team will conduct research and draw on knowledge and information gained through InvestmentNews to support and supplement nominations received and to ensure that no one deserving of recognition is missed. “Excellence awardees” (shortlisted Finalists), in each category, will be determined from both pools of information. 

Stage 3 – Excellence Awardees

Once all nominations are considered and research is complete, Excellence Awardees (Finalists) will be selected in each category and notified via e-mail or phone.

All Excellence Awardees are then invited to finalize their detailed nomination form (“submission”). These submissions will be provided to the judging panel for voting and will otherwise remain confidential and will not be shared with any third parties other than the judges.

Excellence awardees will be officially announced in August 2026 on this website and promoted in InvestmentNews. Promo packages to leverage your achievement across your marketing and promotions will be available for purchase. 

Stage 4 – Judging

 All submissions from our Excellence Awardees are forwarded to the independent judging panel comprising mortgage and finance industry leaders and senior representatives. The panel will assess and vote for their winners in each category according to the relevant category criteria.

Voting will commence in September 2026 and their judgment will be impartial, balanced, incisive and fair. Any judge with a conflict of interest in a category will recuse themselves from judging that category.  

Stage 5 – Winners

Using a simple points system to aggregate judges’ votes, the finalist with the top score in a category will be named the winner.

Winners will be announced at the event on November 5, 2026 and on this website. They will also be promoted in InvestmentNews. Promo packages to leverage your achievement across your marketing and promotions will be available for purchase.