Now in its fifth year, Lab Manager’s Leadership Excellence Awards recognize individuals who demonstrate exceptional leadership, management, and safety skills within their scientific organizations. This prestigious international program celebrates those who have gone above and beyond to ensure the success of their organization’s mission and the safety of their staff. 

Participants can nominate themselves or a peer and explain why the nominee is passionate about their role and why they excel as a lab manager and leader. Following the submission process, a panel of judges will review all entries and determine winners in the following categories:

Overall Lab Manager Excellence Award

Excellence in Lab Leadership

Excellence in Safety Leadership 

Excellence in Lab Management

Young Lab Manager Excellence Award

Excellence in Lab Sustainability

The winners of the Lab Manager Leadership Excellence Awards will be honored at the 2026 Lab Manager Leadership Summit on April 21 in Phoenix, AZ.

**Submissions for the 2026 Leadership Excellence Awards will open in fall 2025. Stay tuned for updates.**

• To gain recognition of your (or your colleague’s) hard work and dedication to your role as a lab manager

• Showcase the success of your staff and organization, and how you (or your colleague) played a starring role in that success

• Highlight the challenges you (or your colleague) have overcome as a lab manager and share your solutions to help others facing similar challenges in their own labs

• Share your experiences and expertise to inspire and motivate others

Overall Lab Manager Excellence Award: The winner of this award exemplifies all the traits, knowledge, and skills needed to successfully run a laboratory.

Excellence in Lab Leadership: This award focuses on the “people” side of laboratory leadership. The winner of this award demonstrates how to manage lab staff effectively, how to improve employee engagement and satisfaction, and how to develop rising leaders among their staff.

Excellence in Lab Management: This award focuses on the lab’s mission. The winner of this award demonstrates a keen eye for doing many things right, such as building effective safety and quality programs, delivering excellent technical results, and exceeding organizational goals.

Young Lab Manager Excellence Award: This award focuses on the rising stars of an organization. This award applies to lab leaders under 40-years-old who have broken barriers, exceeded expectations, and who show strong potential to make a lasting impact on their organization.

Excellence in Safety Leadership: This prize will be awarded to an individual who best exemplifies leadership in lab safety, including how they have built a positive and effective culture of safety in their lab, reduced incidents, and improved staff well-being.

Excellence in Lab Sustainability: This award highlights an individual who has made significant progress in making their lab's work greener. The winner of this award has implemented sustainable practices, procurement, and decision-making to reduce the lab's carbon footprint.

Winners will be invited to attend the 2026 Lab Manager Leadership Summit and will be honored during an awards ceremony at the event. Winners will also be interviewed for feature articles published by Lab Manager. 

Honorable Mention and any other awards will be given solely at the judges’ discretion. Honorable Mention will receive a digital badge/logo to display on their website and social media.