awards.
The cuccio awards
Recognizing contribution, innovation and dedication in the higher education IT Community.
Awards.
Annually, we take time apart from our busy schedules to recognize and celebrate the incredible efforts and contributions from individuals, groups or institutions whose work exemplifies CUCCIO’s founding principles of innovation, collaboration, community, and excellence within Canada’s university IT community. Dozens of applications are cut down to a series of finalists by a panel of expert judges. Finally, we gather each year at CANHEIT to award our winners and celebrate the enormous contributions of our community.
General considerations.
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Nominations must be submitted by a CUCCIO member.
Projects must have a completion date that falls within a year before or after the nomination.
Self-nominations are acceptable.
Nominations must have the approval of the CIO or equivalent.
An individual may not win the same award more than once.
All member institutions are eligible, and encouraged, to submit nominations, regardless of size, complexity or geography.
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Opening Date: January 24, 2025
Closing Date: Wednesday, February 26, 2025, at 11:59 pm EDT
Finalists announced: April 2025
Awards Gala: June 17, 2025 (at CANHEIT)
Category specific considerations.
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The SIG Lead of the Year Award recognizes a champion within the Special Interest Groups. This individual demonstrates going above and beyond in a voluntary capacity to drive their SIG forward in the spirit of community.
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The Innovation Award celebrates significant advances in teaching, learning, research, or administration through the application of IT. The outcomes contribute to improved processes, better student and staff experiences, management of risk and/or control of costs. Enables your institution to make exceptional progress in daily activities through innovation.
Criteria:
Innovation in the application of existing tech or the development of new ones.
The impact of benefits achieved or planned.
Applicability to other members.
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The Collaboration award recognizes sharing between institutions, campuses, faculties or departments that lead to a next level of efficiency and effectiveness through the application of IT.
Criteria:
Breadth and extent of collaboration.
Impact of benefits achieved or planned.
Applicability or other members.
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The Emerging Leader award recognizes an up-and-comer who builds, supports, and represents the coming wave of leaders in university IT. This individual demonstrates ongoing technical and creative expertise as well as growth in responsibility and leadership. Currently not in the CIO role, candidates are participants in the Leadership Development Program (LDP and ISLDP) and/or other IT members, as nominated by their CIO.
Criteria:
How have the nominee's responsibilities grown over the past year?
Please provide an example of an initiative the nominee led that supports their institution's IT strategy. Describe how they may have ‘gone out on a limb’ or supported a collective effort to lead their team to achieve more than they have previously, or led a new initiative through to success.
How has the nominee's contributions introduced some significant positive change on Canadian Higher Education IT?
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The CIO of the Year award recognizes a CIO (or equivalent) who builds, supports, and enriches our community. This award celebrates outstanding contributions by an exemplary leader who demonstrates vision, innovation, transformation, and professional excellence. This individual will be a role model not only within their institution, but throughout the wider CUCCIO community.
Criteria:
What IT initiative(s) has the nominee shepherded to support institutional strategy and demonstrate their status as an exemplary leader?
How has the nominee demonstrated leadership in the CIO role (best practices, managing resources, professional development, influencing change, etc.)
In what ways has the nominee supported CUCCIO and the higher education community?
Celebrating past submissions
Our industry moves at the speed of thought. It's always relevant to look back on the past moments of celebration to see all that we’ve accomplished. Take a look at the projects that are thought of as the worthy of note.
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Innovation - University of Alberta’s Plaintext Password Sniffing Project.
FinalistsUniversity of Toronto | NGSIS Platform Modernization
University of Victoria | Research Administration Information System
Collaboration - Information Security SIG’s Cyber Incident Response Framework
FinalistsUniversity of Alberta | Learning Management Consortium Migration of Moodle to the Cloud
The University of British Columbia | The learning Technology Environment (LTE) Renewal Project
Community - Gayleen Gray, CTO and AVP IT at McMaster University
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Innovation - The University of British Columbia’s Emerging Media Lab
Finalists:
Simon Fraser University | A New Network Data Architecture using Software Defined Architecture
University of Ontario Institute of Technology | Artemis Cloud Implementation
Collaboration - Nova Scotia Higher Education IT Shared Services (HISS)
Finalists:
Simon Fraser University | Development of SFU’s One I.S. Strategy
University of Victoria | Higher Ed IT Procurement Project
Community - Art Exner, Associate Vice President Information Technology (IT) Services, University of Regina
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Innovation - University of Northern British Columbia’s Enhanced Business Continuity Through the Application of Docker Containerization
Finalists:
Simon Fraser University | The Official SFU App Suite
University of Calgary | Secure Compute
Collaboration - University of Alberta’s ShareIT Project
Finalists:
Simon Fraser University Data Centre: Installation of Cedar
Laurentian University | Ontario Group’s Shared CISO
Community Rick Bunt, retired CIO University of Saskatchewan
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Recipients and finalists
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Innovation - University of Toronto’s Online Proctoring Pilot Project
Collaboration - New Brunswick/Prince Edward Island Education Computing Network.
Community - Jeff Gardiner, chair CUCCIO’s Security Information Group
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