MEP Awards 2026

Most awards are only open to be won by currently serving MEPs, with some exceptions such as the APA of the Year Award, or Staffer of the Year Award. Awards are also open to MEPs who are no longer serving as MEPs, provided they recently ceased being an MEP during the six months immediately preceding the 2026 awards ceremony, i.e. they were still an MEP at some point during the period 1st January 2026 to 30th June 2026. Where any such restrictions apply as to who can win an award, these are clearly mentioned on the online nomination form.

Anyone over the age of 18 is entitled to nominate anyone qualified to win that specific award. The nomination must be made in English using the official online nomination form, which will be available from 28th January 2026. No other form of nomination will be accepted. MEPs, MEP assistants, or Staffers as applicable, can nominate themselves for an award using the same official online nomination form. Nominations will close on 16th March 2026.

Once nominations are closed, the long list of all nominees is reduced to a shortlist of a minimum of three potential winners for each award. This shortlist is produced by the journalists and other team members at The Parliament based on how closely the written nominations meet the published guidelines and criteria for each award.

The shortlist is not derived from the number of nominations a nominee receives. Being nominated more times than any other nominee does not imply or guarantee a nominee will be shortlisted. However, having multiple nominations that supply additional relevant information in support of a nominee’s claim to be shortlisted, may help a nominee’s case. Repeated “cut and paste” nominations containing the same information submitted by multiple nominators will not improve a nominee’s prospects of being shortlisted.

Once the shortlist of potential winners has been agreed the list is published on this website. The panel of judges then meets, evaluates the nominations of the shortlisted nominees and determines the winner of each award based on how closely each nominee meets the published criteria.

Our judges represent a broad cross-section of organisations working with and around the European Parliament, but not specifically for the institution. In the past judges have come from organisations related to promotion of democracy, promotion of transparency in democracy, from human rights organisations, from journalism or other areas working closely with the European Union.

Though we aim to make the shortlisting and judging process as fair and transparent as possible, neither employees of The Parliament nor the judges can enter into discussion or debate about why individuals were shortlisted or chosen as winners, or not. The judges’ decision as to who wins an award is final and no correspondence will be entered into. Anyone making a nomination will be asked to confirm they accept this at the time of nominating.

As mentioned above staff of The Parliament and the judges will not enter into discussion or debate about the selection of the shortlist or winners of awards. The Parliament staff and the judges’ decision as to who has been shortlisted or who wins an award is final and no correspondence will be entered into. Anyone making a nomination will be asked to confirm that they accept this at the time of nominating.

In order to finance the MEP Awards and to ensure the event remains free for those attending, the organiser accepts revenue from a number of organisations as partners for different aspects of the awards ceremony. However, these organisations are not involved in the nomination, shortlisting or judging process in any way and have no influence on the outcome of who receives an award. They are also not associated with any award or category.

If you have any queries or need clarification of the rules please contact MEPAwards@theparliamentmagazine.eu.