Canada Awards for Excellence | |
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Awarded for | Recognizing Canadian businesses for excellence in applying the principles of Total Quality Management as embodied in Excellence Canada's Progressive Excellence Program |
Sponsored by | Excellence Canada |
Country | Canada |
First awarded | 1984[Note 1] |
Website | www |
The Canada Awards for Excellence are the national quality awards of Canada.[2][3] They are administered by Excellence Canada, a not-for-profit organization on behalf of the Governor General of Canada.[4] Industry Canada established the awards in 1984[Note 1] as the Canadian Business Excellence Awards. The National Quality Institute (NQI) was spun off as a separate, self-sustaining entity to administer the awards in 1992 and became Excellence Canada in 2011.[5] While originally intended for profitmaking Canadian firms, the awards are now open to government agencies and not-for-profit organizations.
As of 2014, there are eleven awards categories:[6]
As is typical for national quality awards, hopefuls complete a self-assessment[7] which is reviewed by volunteer judges ("verifiers") and high-scoring candidates receive a follow-up site visit for closer judging.[8] Based on the recommendations of the judges, a jury panel determines the awarding.[9] Additionally, judges prepare detailed feedback which each applicant can use as the basis of self-improvement projects.