Canada’s Most Admired™ Corporate Cultures

Recognizing Best-In-Class

Corporate culture drives performance – it’s your organization’s greatest asset. Canada’s Most Admired™ Corporate Cultures is a national program, now in its 20th year, that annually recognizes best-in-class Canadian organizations for having cultures that have helped them enhance performance and sustain a competitive advantage.

Winning a Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures award allows organizations to use the logo and trademarks for up to three years* as a mark of excellence in culture and performance.

Additionally, this company culture award program helps facilitate valuable networking opportunities and relationship building with some of Canada’s most successful and innovative organizations who outperform their peers when it comes to culture.

*Organizations will be asked to participate in recertification activities in years two and three to maintain use of the logo and trademarks.

Let’s Start Celebrating Your Corporate Culture

This national program annually recognizes best-in-class Canadian organizations for having cultures that have helped them enhance performance and sustain a competitive advantage.

Winning a Canada’s Most Admired™ Corporate Cultures award allows organizations to use the logo and trademarks for up to three years* as a mark of excellence in culture and performance.

Organizations can either nominate themselves or be nominated by others for this prestigious corporate culture award. Once the nominations have been made, organizations are asked to make a detailed written submission to the program.

Ten winners are selected in each category annually, for a total of 50 winners. Winners of the Canada’s Most Admired™ Corporate Cultures Awards must be present at the Awards Celebration  to accept their award.

*Organizations will be asked to participate in recertification activities in years two and three to maintain use of the logo and trademarks.

How It Works

Our dedicated awards team works together with nominated organizations through every step of the awards process:

Get Nominated or Self-Nominate – August to May

   Create Your Written Submission – May to June

 Submission Interviews – June to August

  Board Votes – November

  Awards Announced – November

 Gala to Celebrate – Spring

Nominating Criteria

All nominated organizations must fit within one of these qualifying categories:

• Emerging (revenues of $5 million to under $25 million, and over 25 employees)
• Growth (revenues of $25 million to under $100 million)
• Mid-Market (revenues of $100 million to under $500 million)
• Enterprise (revenues of $500 million and above), and
• Not-for-profit (not-for-profit and charitable organizations)

Nominate an Organization

Canadian organizations can be nominated, or self-nominate, to the program.

Nominate an organization today.

Who is eligible to participate?
Canadian or Canadian subsidiary organizations, either privately-held or publicly-traded, are eligible. These organizations must have a minimum of $5 million in revenue  and over 25 employees and a head office, or a subsidiary office, in Canada. Canadian not-for-profit organizations are also eligible. The 2024 program is not open to the 2022 or 2023 winners of the program.

Is there a cost to participate?
There is no cost to participate in Canada’s Most Admired™ Corporate Cultures nomination or submission process. Winning organizations will need to purchase tickets to the Awards Celebration in Toronto where the awards are handed out.

What happens after my organization is nominated?
Once nominated, candidate organizations are asked to make a detailed submission to the program that speaks to their corporate culture. You can download the 2023 submission guidelines here.

Who votes on the winners?
Waterstone Human Capital does not vote on the submissions. Review and voting on the submissions is done by our Canada’s Most Admired™ Corporate Cultures Board of Governors. The Board is made up of leaders of past winning organizations. They are experts in knowing what makes a great corporate culture and leading organizations that exemplify winning cultures.

How long would we hold the award?
Winning Canada’s Most Admired™ Corporate Cultures allows organizations to use the logo and trademarks for up to three years* as a mark of excellence in culture and performance. You are permitted to reapply for the award in your third year. *Organizations will be asked to participate in recertification activities in years two and three to maintain use of the logo and trademarks.

What are the award categories?
Emerging (revenues of $5 million to under $25 million, and over 25 employees) Growth (revenues of $25 million under $100 million) Mid-Market (revenues of $100 million to under $500 million) Enterprise (revenues of $500 million and above), and Non-Profit (not-for-profit and charitable organizations) Ten winners in each category will be chosen, for a total of 50 winners annually.

How do you nominate an organization?
Canadian organizations can be nominated, or self-nominate, to the program.  If you would like to nominate an organization for 2025, please fill out our nomination form here. Nominations close May 16, 2025.

What are submission interviews?

The Canada’s Most Admired™ Corporate Cultures awards program is unique in the level of feedback you receive throughout the submission process. Each summer, our team at Waterstone Human Capital schedules 45 minute interviews with the CEO of each submitting organization. We review the submission with you, and provide feedback for improvement, before the final submission is provided to the Board for voting.

How are winners announced and celebrated?

Ten winners in each category will be chosen annually, for a total of 50 winners. Winners are announced in November of each year and featured in a special section published by our media partner, the National Post. They are then celebrated at the annual Canada’s Most Admired™ Awards Celebration in the spring of the following year. This is an evening of celebration with 600+ of Canada’s preeminent executives and leaders. It is mandatory that winners attend the Awards Celebration. Preceding the Awards Celebration, there are also two daytime learning events – a Corporate Culture Summit and a CEO-only Summit. The Corporate Culture Summit is a unique gathering of leaders from organizations participating in the Canada’s Most Admired™ Corporate Cultures awards, as well as those passionate about the importance of corporate culture. It features breakouts, interactive Q&A’s and lively panel discussions with leaders in talent management, marketing, human resources and culture. The CEO Summit features speeches, Q&A’s and in-depth panel discussions with about 100 CEO’s from a wide variety of highly successful organizations across Canada. Tickets for these events go on sale in November – stay tuned!

What is the Hall of Fame?
The Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures™ Hall of Fame is a prestigious designation given to organizations that have won the award four times. Click here to view the current Hall of Fame members.