The Degreed Visionary Awards – Degreed

Why We Celebrate Visionaries

At Degreed, we believe that the future belongs to those who embrace lifelong learning and use skills development as a catalyst for transformation. Since our founding, we’ve been committed to challenging traditional learning models and empowering organizations to unlock human potential. The Degreed Visionary Awards are a testament of this ethos, celebrating the innovators, the leaders, and the change-makers who push the boundaries and are redefining what’s possible in workforce development.

A Shared Vision

Through the Visionary Awards, we reaffirm our partnership with our clients, celebrating their commitment to innovation and their ability to translate learning into meaningful outcomes. The Visionary Awards are more than an accolade—they are a movement. Together, we are creating a culture of innovation, excellence, and transformation. By spotlighting our clients’ achievements, we fuel the momentum needed to build the future of learning, where every skill learned creates value for individuals, organizations, and society at large.

Let’s celebrate the leaders who make this vision a reality. Let’s honor the Degreed Visionaries!

Overview

We are thrilled to open the Degreed Visionary Awards, a permanent program recognizing outstanding achievements in learning, skill development, and business transformation. Share your Degreed success story and gain recognition for its measurable impact on your organization's performance.

Why Enter?

Earn public recognition as a leader in learning-driven business impact.
Inspire others with your organization's transformative journey.
Connect with peers and gain visibility within the Degreed community & the wider L&D Industry.
Get the chance to earn 2 complimentary Degreed LENS tickets, sponsorship for other industry awards, a trophy, a digital badge, and more.

The Award Categories

3 Organizational Awards

Efficiency Enabler Award - recognizing best cost savings and/or resource optimization,
Productivity Propeller Award - for best increased productivity initiatives, and
Business Booster Award - for those demonstrating an enabled increase in revenue.

3 Individual Awards

Chief Learning Officer (or Learning Subject Matter Expert) of the Year - recognizing those who make use of data to drive improvements in learning & development strategies,
Learner Excellence Award - celebrating proactive efforts in their pursuit of skill advancement, and
Client Ambassador of the Year - for those who are an inspiration to other Learning Practitioners.

Prizes

For all winners:

1 Degreed Trophy & Digital Badge,
2 Degreed LENS free passes worth US$550 each,
3 Degreed sponsorship entries into other industry awards like LPI, Brandon Hall, ATD, etc, and we will send one of you if our joint entry win Gold award on any of those.
The opportunity to present your use case on stage at Degreed LENS or Degreed Vision,
The opportunity to participate as early adopters of new products or features, and
The opportunity to host a Q&A session at one of our Industry Webinars or Degreed LENS.

Organizational Award Requirements

Each nomination must include the following 3 pillars:

1) Quantifiable Results: Demonstrate measurable business outcomes in either:

Maximized Efficiency or Cost Reductions: Improving resource utilization.
Increased Productivity: Enhancing HR, L&D, and/or the workforce efficiency.
Increased Revenue: Driving financial gains and revenue growth for the Business.

2) Key Business Drivers: Describe the key business drivers influenced by Degreed and how they contributed to the Top Tier results. For example:

Internal Mobility
Employee Engagement
Leadership Development
Talent Retention
Innovation Enablement
Workforce Agility
Risk Management & Mitigation
etc.

3) L&D Core Use Cases: Demonstrate how one or more of the following use cases contributed to enabling such key business drivers:

- Onboarding: Streamline new hire training.
- Performing: Enhance the performance of employees or business units.
- Engaging: Foster continuous participation in learning activities.
- Upskilling: Develop skills to enhance current role performance.
- Reskilling: Equip employees for new roles and responsibilities.

For more details, contact your Degreed Client Success Representative.

Individual Award Requirements

1 - Learning Subject Matter Expert of the Year

Data-Driven Decision Making for Continuous Improvement

Use of Analytics: Clear metrics that demonstrate the results of learning programs, such as employee engagement, skill acquisition, and improvements in performance.
Evidence of Iteration: Examples of program adjustments based on data, showing responsiveness to feedback and evolving business needs.
Benchmarking and Best Practices: Evidence of benchmarking against industry standards or internal best practices to maintain competitive and effective learning programs or initiatives.

2 - Learner of the Year

Commitment to Continuous Growth and Skill Development

Skill Growth: Evidence of continuous skill acquisition through courses, certifications, gigs, or independent projects.
Workplace Impact: Evidence of real-world application of new skills that led to improvements, such as enhancing individual or team performance, increasing efficiencies in department, or achieving specific business goals.

For more details, contact your Degreed Client Success Representative.

How to Participate:

Submit Your Story: Send your nomination form,
Provide Supporting Evidence: Include any relevant data, testimonials, case studies, videos or reports, that demonstrate your story and impact, and
Attach the Consent Form: Approval from your relevant department to share these with us.

Ask your Degreed Client Success Representative for the templates.

Timeline

Although this is a permanent program and submissions are open all year round, we will recognize and celebrate awardees every year at Degreed LENS. The dates for the 2025 are cycle are:

Submission deadline: Friday February 28, 2025.
Winners announced: Friday March 21, 2025.

Winners will be invited to share their stories at Degreed LENS on April 15 & 16 2025.

Judging Criteria

Judges will grade based on the presence of measurable, data-backed results tied to resource optimization or cost-savings, productivity improvements, and revenue generation.

The highest marks will be awarded to submissions that have specific metrics.

Organizational Awards	Points
Quantifiable Results	_ / 35 points
Key Business Drivers	_ / 25 points
L&D Use Cases	_ / 20 points
Provided Evidence	_ / 20 points

Individual Awards	Points
Use Case presented	_ / 75 points
Evidence Presented	_ / 25 points

Awards Terms and Conditions

Eligibility: Open to all current clients.
Number of submissions: No limit; clients can submit as many applications as they wish.
Joint submissions: Clients can also submit alongside one of our preferred partners.
Client Support: We offer “office hours” to help our clients complete their submissions, check with your Client Success Representative for the details of these in your time zone.
Degreed Consent form: It must be attached to each submission.
Submissions Mechanism: Your Client Success Representative will receive your submissions via email in Word or G-Doc formats.

For more details, contact your Degreed Client Success Representative.