2023 New York State Workforce Innovation Awards

2023 New York State Workforce Innovation Awards


2023 New York State Workforce Innovation Awards

**Deadline extended to March 26 at 11:59 PM **

The Business Council is pleased to announce the 2nd Annual New York State Workforce Innovation Awards to recognize outstanding workforce development training and education providers, as well as business leaders, focused on developing a strong and diverse talent pipeline. 

The Business Council will present four Workforce Innovation Awards annually to New York’s workforce stakeholders. Awardees will be recognized for their leadership and innovation in developing and/or delivering training and education to meet the workforce needs of local businesses. The four award categories are as follows:

  • Higher Education Workforce Innovation Award
  • Non-Profit Workforce Innovation Award
  • Business Workforce Leadership Award 

Eligible entities may apply for one of four awards. Organizations eligible to apply include: 

  • Public and private p-12 schools
  • Career and technical education (CTE) schools and programs
  • Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES)
  • Public and private institutions of higher education
  • Public and private youth and adult training and education programs
  • Non-profit industry associations
  • Businesses

Training and education programs and businesses must have a location operating in New York State. For online training and education programs to be eligible, they must have at minimum 1,000 students residing in New York State and New York State-based staff. Organizations do not have to be a member of The Business Council to be eligible for an award. Neither financial or in-kind sponsorship of the awards or awards luncheon will have an impact on an organization’s chances at winning an award or be cause for an applicant to be disqualified from receiving an award.

Application Process

All applicants will submit their application through one of the links below. The application deadline is Sunday, March 26, 2023, at 11:59 PM. 

The top training and education applicants in each category will be selected and designated as “finalists” by The Business Council for the purpose of social media promotion and public voting to select the winners. In addition to recognizing excellent workforce programs across the state, The Business Council would like to promote these exemplary programs to the public to increase the visibility of successful education connecting individuals to quality skills training that leads to good jobs. 

Training and education applicants will be required to submit a video up to 60 seconds in length and submit to a OneDrive link which will be provided upon completion of the application. The video will be shared online and across social media platforms for promotion and voting. It is recommended that the video be developed by students and filmed with a mobile device. Students are encouraged to be creative and express what makes their program special to them in the video.  

The Business Workforce Leadership Award will be selected by The Business Council and will not require a video as part of the application process. 

After the finalists are selected, the online public voting process will begin in early April and run for two weeks. All finalists will be encouraged to promote online voting for their program through various social media channels. 

All final awardees will be announced in early May. The awards luncheon will be held in May in Albany, NY.

View last year's finalists and winners

Online & Social Media Scoring Guidelines

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) 

Training and Education Providers Apply Here

Training and Education Providers Apply Here

Business Leaders Apply Here

Business Leaders Apply Here