Pre-entry guidelines and instructions

Please read this page thoroughly before starting your award submission(s); a link to the online submission process is at the end of this page (from 01 September 2025 onwards). Please email awards@housing-technology.com if you have any questions relating to the awards. 

To help you consider whether your project might be suitable for the Housing Technology Awards, we recommend reading some of our winners’ stories from the 2024 and 2025 Housing Technology Awards.

Award Categories

The categories (entrants may enter up to three categories) for the Housing Technology Awards 2025/26 are:

• Artificial Intelligence;
• Customer/tenant services;
  
• Cyber-security;
• Digital transformation;
• Innovation;
• IT Team of the year;

Please note that projects/programmes such as data management, HMS migration, asset management or repairs/maintenance (purely as examples) would fit into one or more of the above award categories, depending on the specifics of your project/programme. 

If you and your team are proud of the work youhave accomplished in these areas, we welcome you and your team to take part inthe awards, irrespective of the size of your organisation (size will be taken into account when assessing the award entries).

Qualifying entrants & applicable entries

The Housing Technology Awards are only open to UK & Ireland social housing organisations (RSLs) and other UK & Ireland providers of social housing, such as ALMOs and local authorities. All entrants must be Housing Technology subscribers (you can subscribe here free of charge). Third-party organisations, such as IT suppliers, business consultancies and PR companies, wishing to enter the awards (by proxy) can only do so via their housing customers. Award entries can only be submitted via an email address associated with a housing provider’s web domain. Entries must relate to projects, teams and activities taking place within the past 18 months (as of 01 September 2025). Please note that if the minimum number of entries for a category is not reached, the award will be discontinued; we will inform relevant entrants if applicable.

Timescale

The Housing Technology Awards 2025/26 are open for entries from 01 September 2025 until midnight on 31 December 2025. All entries will be acknowledged by Housing Technology by email. All entrants will be informed by email of the short-listed entries. All short-listed entrants will be informed by email with details of the final awards’ prize-giving (to take place at the Housing Technology 2026 conference on Wednesday 11 March 2026 in Nottingham).

Judging and marking framework

Entrants are advised that HousingTechnology’s internal team (who will short-list the entries) and our external housing panel (who will then judge the short-listed entries) will use the framework below when assessing the entries. Entrants are strongly advised to compose their entries accordingly to highlight their achievements and details of their project as clearly as possible. The external judging panel of seniorIT/business executives from UK & Ireland social housing organisations (andother external organisations at Housing Technology’s discretion) will be selected and invited by Housing Technology. The judges will not assess any entries from their own organisations nor from any organisation with which theyhave any commercial or corporate involvement. Neither Housing Technology nor its external judges will enter into discussions regarding individual award submissions and their subsequent assessments.

• Project/programme details (max. 300 words): Please outline your project/programme, incl. the previous situation/problem, what was done, how it was done and the reasons for your choice of project/programme solution. Marking guide: OUTSTANDING (75-100marks): fully-evidenced, robust & substantiated project; GOOD (50-74marks): Very good project, compelling evidence; ADEQUATE (25-49 marks): adequate project, some good evidence; WEAK (0-24 marks): inconsistent project, limited evidence.
• Business & technology results (max. 300 words): Please outline the business and technology benefits achieved through your project/programme. Marking guide: OUTSTANDING (75-100marks): sector-leading, exceptional impact GOOD (50-74 marks): industry best-practice, high impact; ADEQUATE (25-49 marks): industry standards, positive impact; WEAK (0-24 marks): weak areas, low impact.
• Innovation (max. 150 words): Please explain the innovative aspects of your project/programme, incl. whether the innovation applies to only your own organisation or the wider social housing sector (i.e. is it just new to you or new for the sector as well?). Marking guide: OUTSTANDING (75-100 marks): very innovative; GOOD (50-74 marks): innovative; ADEQUATE (25-49 marks): some innovation; WEAK (0-24 marks): little/no innovation.
• Quantitative goals (max.100 words): Please list your project’s quantitative goals and the extent to which those goals were achieved. Marking guide: OUTSTANDING (75-100 marks): exceeded goals; GOOD (50-74 marks): achieved goals; ADEQUATE (25-49 marks): some goals achieved; WEAK (0-24 marks): goals partly/not achieved.
• Qualitative goals (max. 100 words): Please list your project’s qualitative goals and the extent to which those goals were achieved. Marking guide: OUTSTANDING (75-100 marks): exceeded goals; GOOD (50-74 marks): achieved goals; ADEQUATE (25-49 marks): some goals achieved; WEAK (0-24 marks): goals partly/not achieved.

Preview of information to be provided

The information that each entrant will need to provide is listed below; we advise entrants to consider and compose their responses and answers before entering Housing Technology’s awards portal.

• Contact details: name, job title, email, phone, etc. This is for Housing Technology’s internal use.
  
• Headline/project name (free text, max. 10 words): this will be used by Housing Technology and its external judges to quickly categorise/index each entry; it will not be assessed for the awards.
• Number of properties owned and/or managed: Housing Technology’s research team and our external judges will take organisational size into account when assessing and marking award entries.
• Summary of project/team/activity (free text, max. 200 words): this will be used by Housing Technology and its external judges to gain an overview of each entry; it will not be assessed for the awards; it will be used as the basis for any external marketing and editorial coverage.
• Main award submission (free text, max. 300 words): an outline of your project/programme, incl. the previous situation/problem, what was done, how it was done and the reasons for your choice of project/programme solution.
• Business & technology results (max. 300 words): an outline of the business and technology benefits achieved through your project/programme.
• Innovation (max. 150 words): an explanation of the innovative aspects of your project/programme, incl. whether the innovation applies to only your own organisation or the wider social housing sector (i.e. is it just new to you or new for the sector as well?).
• Quantitative goals (max. 100 words): a list of your project’s quantitative goals and the extent to which those goals wereachieved.
• Qualitative goals (max. 100 words): a list of your project’s qualitative goals and the extent to which those goals were achieved.

Final Awards

From the short-listed entries, the winner and runners-up in each category will be split into ‘Winner’, ‘Highly Commended’ and ‘Commended’. The awards will be announced at the Housing Technology 2026 conference on Wednesday 11 March 2026 in Nottingham. Winners and runners-up will be entitled to reference their status in their internal and external communications (Housing Technology will provide artwork for marketing/social media). Housing Technology will also provide editorial coverage of the awards in its bi-monthly magazine, online and via social media, including profiles of the winners and runners-up in each award category.  

The short-listed entries for each award will be required to attend the prize-giving ceremony at the Housing Technology 2026 conference in Nottingham on Wednesday 11 March 2026. Complimentary tickets will be provided for two representatives from each short-listed entry; additional tickets will be available to purchase.

Confidentiality

All personal data provided will be subject to GDPR. The original entrants and their entries will be confidential toHousing Technology and the external judging panel. The entrants’ own ‘summary’ submissions of the short-listed entries and final winners and runners-up in each category will be covered in Housing Technology magazine, online and via social media (as per ‘editorial coverage & promotion’ above).

How to submit your entry

The Housing Technology Awards 2026 will open for entries on 01 September 2025. For any enquiries, please contact awards@housing-technology.com.

Housing Technology is using a dedicated online awards portal, so that text can be copied/pasted from Word/Notepad/etc, and entrants can save and review their entries before their final submission. To get started, simply click the button below to go to the portal where you will create your account. The portal will guide you through the submission process. If you have any questions at all, please contact awards@housing-technology.com.

Please note that there are no fees or charges to enter the Housing Technology Awards 2024/25.