About the Global Cybersecurity Visionary of the Year category
Who this award is for
This award is for people who change how others in the field think and act. Recent nominees led open-source security projects and championed new approaches that other organizations went on to adopt.
The award looks at influence beyond the nominee's own employer, through standards, communities, publications or industry movements. A single invention fits Cybersecurity Innovator of the Year, and strategy work inside one organization fits Cybersecurity Strategist of the Year; nominees who also have an invention or in-house strategy work to show can enter those categories as well.
Related categories to enter
Each category is judged separately, so you can enter a nominee in every category that fits their work, with a separate nomination for each. Tailor each nomination to that category's focus. Entering several related categories gives the work more than one chance to be recognized.
How entries are judged
An independent jury of security practitioners, analysts and CISOs scores each nomination on leadership, innovation and impact. Each nomination competes in its category against peers in a similar setting and region. Your entry package, any sponsorship and public votes do not affect the jury's scores.
Strong entries in this category show:
- Leadership — who follows the nominee's lead: organizations, standards bodies, open-source communities or founders who have adopted their ideas.
- Innovation — the idea itself and how it differs from how most of the field thinks security should work.
- Impact — evidence the field moved, such as standards or frameworks published, projects adopted, ideas taken up in other countries or sectors, and how widely the work is cited or used. Names and numbers let the jury check that evidence.
The jury awards Gold, Silver or Bronze, or a Finalist badge, and results are published on this site and announced to the 600,000+ member Cybersecurity Insiders community. Every approved nomination also enters the separate Community Choice award, decided by public votes.
How to enter
Anyone can submit a nomination: the nominee, a colleague or manager, the organization, or an agency entering a client. The nomination form has a confidential field for detail that is shared with the judges and not published, such as internal figures, customer names or incident details. Deadlines, pricing and entry steps are on the How it Works page.
