Training magazine is pleased to offer the 2026 Emerging Training Leaders (ETL) awards program. The Emerging Training Leaders awards program aims to recognize training professionals who are relatively new to the training/learning and development (L&D) industry (minimum of two years and maximum of 10 years in the field) and who have demonstrated exceptional leadership skills, business savvy, and training instincts.
Download the submission form:
Download the scoring guidelines:
CRITERIA
Criteria for the Emerging Training Leaders awards nominations include:
- No self-nominations; nominations must come from managers, co-workers, peers/colleagues—each company can nominate ONLY 2 candidates
- Candidate must be in the training industry for a minimum of two years but no more than 10 years
- Candidate took on at least one new responsibility in the last year
- Candidate successfully led a large-scale training/learning and development initiative within the last year that required management/leadership of a group of people and resulted in the achievement of a business (not L&D) goal
- Candidate demonstrates specific leadership and business acumen skills
- Candidate has the potential to lead the Training or Learning & Development function at an organization in the next one to 10 years
There is NO FEE to nominate someone.
SCORING
Each nomination can achieve a maximum of 45 points as follows:
- Number and scope of new and current responsibilities and their importance to the business (6 points)
- Training initiative (20 points total):
Level of potential business impact (i.e., revenue generation, new product launch, change initiative, new technology launch): 0-3 points
Level of difficulty of challenges faced: 0-2 points
Project scope (companywide, individual functions, global vs. national, etc.): 0-3 points
Business unit goal the program aimed to help achieve: 0-2 points
Instructional design (learning objectives linked to business outcomes; level of leadership involved in design, development, and facilitation; reinforcement): 0-3 points
Innovation of training: 0-3 points
Business outcomes achieved/expectations met: 0-4 points
- Leadership/business skills utilized: (up to 1 point for quality of each example; plus 3 points for Level 3 and 4 results for each section for a total of 14 points)
- Readiness to lead the Training or Learning & Development function (2 points for timing and 3 point for reason(s) why; for a total of 5 points)
JUDGING
Training’s Training Hall of Fame organizations, other Editorial Advisory Board members, and Editor/Publisher Lorri Freifeld will judge the nominations in July and August 2026. Please download the scoring guidelines below. Winners and their nominators will be notified in September 2026. Winners will be featured in the March 2027 print issue of Training magazine.
By submitting a nomination for the Emerging Training Leaders awards program, you give Training magazine permission to publish any information not marked NFP (Not For Publication) in a profile of the nominee that would appear in the March 2027 issue.
An awards ceremony and lunch will be held February 23, 2027, at the Training 2027 Conference & Expo at Disney World’s Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando, FL. The winners earning the top 5 highest scores will receive a free registration to the 2027 Training Conference. The other winners will receive a discount for the conference. All nominators of 2026 winners also will receive a discount for the conference.
To see the list of 2025 Emerging Training Leader winners, please visit:
https://trainingmag.com/2025-emerging-training-leader-winners/
To see profiles of those winners, please visit:
https://pubs.royle.com/publication/?i=860310&p=86
For additional information, please visit:
Please download the 2026 nomination form below, complete it, and e-mail it to: lorri@trainingmag.com by June 15, 2026. ENTRIES WILL BE JUDGED SOLELY ON THE NOMINATION FORM; PLEASE DO NOT SEND SUPPORTING MATERIALS. Please e-mail me at lorri@trainingmag.com with any questions.
Download the submission form:
Download the scoring guidelines:
