Open Call: Data Centre Dynamics (DCD) Global Awards 2024

It’s the most anticipated and most-talked-about awards program that annually attracts hundreds of entries from all around the world.

Ultimately, it’s the strength of the judging panel that makes them the data center award-to-win, comprised of recognized experts from all the technical domains and disciplines. They cut through the jargon and hype to find the entries that have truly made an impact.

This year’s ceremony will be held on December 11, 2024 at Grosvenor House London – the biggest venue yet! You won’t want to miss out on the industry party of the year.

Award Categories

• Edge Data Center Project of the Year
  • As AI use cases continue to proliferate, real-time, decentralized processing has never been more important. This award recognizes projects that can demonstrate a unique and strategic approach as to how a successful Edge deployment is designed, set up and operated, and show how this creates new and exciting opportunities for delivering on IT and business objectives.
• Middle East & Africa Data Center Project of the Year
  • This award recognizes projects from across the Middle East & Africa that have pushed the boundaries of data center design and construction over the past year, with innovative new technologies used and novel engineering, design and construction strategies deployed throughout the build process.
• Asia Pacific Data Center Project of the Year
  • This award recognizes projects from across Asia Pacific that have pushed the boundaries of data center design and construction over the past year, with innovative new technologies used and novel engineering, design, and construction strategies deployed throughout the build process.
• Latin America Data Center Project of the Year
  • This award recognizes projects from across Latin America that have pushed the boundaries of data center design and construction over the past year, with innovative new technologies used and novel engineering, design and construction strategies deployed throughout the build process.
• North American Data Center Project of the Year
  • This award recognizes projects from across North America that have pushed the boundaries of data center design and construction over the past year, with innovative new technologies used and novel engineering, design and construction strategies deployed throughout the build process.
• European Data Center Project of the Year
  • This award recognizes projects from across Europe that have pushed the boundaries of data center design and construction over the past year, with innovative new technologies used and novel engineering, design and construction strategies deployed throughout the build process.
• Mission Critical Tech Innovation Award
  • This award is dedicated to data infrastructure technologies and recognizes excellence in cutting-edge technology solutions developed for the world of critical power, cooling tech, monitoring and operational management systems.
• Energy Impact Award
  • As the data center has become an increasingly critical foundation of the modern world, it has become equally associated with significant energy consumption. This award recognizes the most innovative and efficient ways in which data centers are sourcing, managing, and conserving energy.
• Environmental Impact Award
  • As data centers reach out across the world to meet increased demand for their services, so the collective environmental footprint is being scrutinized more closely across all aspects of lifecycle and operation. This award recognizes innovation in and commitment to reducing the total environmental impact of the data center.
• Community Impact Award
  • This award recognizes projects or collaborations with the primary goal being societal and community development and growth, where corporate aims have been aligned with wider social and cultural responsibility.
• Data Center Workforce Initiative of the Year
  • The labor and skills shortage remains the biggest issue faced by data center organizations globally. New for 2024, this award looks to recognize initiatives which have made positive change and helped close the workforce gap.
• Editor’s Choice – Data Center Project of the Year
  • The editorial team will be honoring their favorite projects from this year’s outstanding entrants to crown the Editor’s Choice award recipient. There will be no shortlisted finalists for this category, and the winner will be announced at the ceremony.
• Data Center Construction Team of the Year
  • The delivery of a data center is a race against the clock, as time is money. It’s also a situation where no corners can be cut, and the eventual product must not fall below agreed specifications and quality standards.
  • This award recognizes construction teams that demonstrated flexibility and initiative in dealing with project twists and turns while meeting or exceeding overall time, cost and quality outcomes.
• Data Center Operations Team of the Year
  • No one runs a data center in isolation, and teamwork is a crucial skill alongside the technical know-how the job requires. While working to ensure the operation runs reliably and effectively in line with client expectations, the operations team needs also to respond effectively to unforeseen situations, requests, and challenges.
  • This award recognizes teams convened for special tasks or ‘one-off’ projects, or to deal with unforeseen situations.
• Young Mission Critical Engineer of the Year
  • The future prospects of the data center community rely on the emergence of a new generation, ready to pick up the baton and take the sector on towards undreamt-of achievements. Past winners have gone on to build successful careers while raising the profile of the companies that employ them.
  • New technologies and new platforms require new skills, so this category is open to the whole mission critical stack, including not only M&E but also systems, architecture and software professionals. Judges will be looking for a track record of achievement in project leadership and delivery as well as a higher profile in our industry than their years would suggest.
• Data Center Woman of the Year
  • This year’s Woman of the Year award celebrates a visionary who has not only pushed the boundaries of technology but also paved the way for inclusivity and innovation. Her unyielding commitment to building or operating robust, scalable, and sustainable digital infrastructure has empowered businesses, connected communities, and transformed the way we think. Through her leadership, resilience, and forward-thinking approach, she has proven that the future of digital infrastructure is both dynamic and inclusive.
• Outstanding Contribution to the Industry
  • Every industry has its champions, thought leaders, and pioneers who will be revered for their achievements for years to come.

Why the DCD Global Awards?

• Validate your work with a review by the world-renowned judging panel
• Join the prestigious list of 1,102 past finalists & winners
• Showcase your achievements on DCD, the #1 most visited data center website in the world
• Inspire your peers from 192 countries worldwide

Who can apply?

• Edge Data Center Project of the Year
  • This category is open to any new edge computing deployment globally, either physical or virtual, that was completed between September 1, 2023 and September 1, 2024.
  • This category is awarded to the end user/operator of the project. Vendors, consulting engineers and contractors can be primary entrants so long as they have permission from the end-user client to name the project and share details. All listed partners will be acknowledged in publicity associated with the entry.
• Middle East & Africa Data Center Project of the Year
  • This category is open to any new data center projects or significant upgrade (modernization) projects from across the Middle East & Africa that were completed between September 1, 2023 and September 1, 2024.
  • Projects can be submitted from any of the major data center categories, including: Edge, Enterprise, Hyperscale, Colocation or Telecom that are located anywhere across the Middle East & Africa regions.
  • Vendors, consulting engineers and contractors can be primary entrants so long as they have permission from the end-user client to name the project and share details. All listed partners will be acknowledged in publicity associated with the entry.
• Asia Pacific Data Center Project of the Year
  • This category is open to any new data center projects or significant upgrade (modernization) projects in Asia Pacific that were completed between September 1, 2023 and September 1, 2024.
  • Projects can be submitted from any of the major data center categories, including: Edge, Enterprise, Hyperscale, Colocation or Telecom that are located anywhere across the Asia Pacific region.
  • Vendors, consulting engineers and contractors can be primary entrants so long as they have permission from the end-user client to name the project and share details. All listed partners will be acknowledged in publicity associated with the entry.
• Latin America Data Center Project of the Year
  • This category is open to any new data center projects or significant upgrade (modernization) projects from across Latin America that were completed between September 1, 2023 and September 1, 2024.
  • Projects can be submitted from any of the major data center categories, including: Edge, Enterprise, Hyperscale, Colocation or Telecom that are located anywhere in Latin America including Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.
  • Vendors, consulting engineers and contractors can be primary entrants so long as they have permission from the end-user client to name the project and share details. All listed partners will be acknowledged in publicity associated with the entry.
• North American Data Center Project of the Year
  • This category is open to any new data center projects or significant upgrade (modernization) projects in North America that were completed between September 1, 2023 and September 1, 2024.
  • Projects can be submitted from any of the major data center categories, including: Edge, Enterprise, Hyperscale, Colocation or Telecom that are located in the United States or Canada (Mexican projects should enter the LATAM category).
  • Vendors, consulting engineers and contractors can be primary entrants so long as they have permission from the end-user client to name the project and share details. All listed partners will be acknowledged in publicity associated with the entry.
• European Data Center Project of the Year
  • This category is open to any new data center projects or significant upgrade (modernization) projects across Europe that were completed between September 1, 2023 and September 1, 2024.
  • Projects can be submitted from any of the major data center categories, including: Edge, Enterprise, Hyperscale, Colocation or Telecom that are located anywhere on the European Continent.
  • Vendors, consulting engineers and contractors can be primary entrants so long as they have permission from the end-user client to name the project and share details. All listed partners will be acknowledged in publicity associated with the entry.
• Mission Critical Tech Innovation Award
  • This award is open to any company actively creating solutions for the data center industry (owners, operators, consultants, vendors, suppliers, academics etc). The technological innovation must be new and must have been available in-market from September 2023.
  • It could be data center cooling, power, monitoring, security, containerization or cabling innovations, or even related to the design or integration of such components.
• Energy Impact Award
  • This category is open to any type of data center project or technological innovation where the primary goal has been the reduction of energy consumption and/or carbon usage. The project/initiative must have been completed between September 1, 2023 and September 1, 2024.
  • Projects can be submitted from data center operators, end-users or other value chain partners in any region.
  • Vendors, consulting engineers and contractors can be primary entrants so long as they have permission from the end-user client to name the project and share details. All listed partners will be acknowledged in publicity associated with the entry but the end-user/operator will be the primary recipient.
• Environmental Impact Award
  • The project/initiative must have been completed between September 1, 2023 and September 1, 2024.
  • Projects can be submitted from global data center operators, end-users or other value chain partners.
  • Vendors, consulting engineers and contractors can be primary entrants so long as they have permission from the end-user client to name the project and share details. All listed partners will be acknowledged in publicity associated with the entry but the end-user/operator will be the primary recipient.
• Community Impact Award
  • The project/initiative must have been completed between September 1, 2023 and September 1, 2024.
  • Any organization which is actively involved in the data center industry is eligible to enter their project or initiative into this category. This could be global data center operators and end-users or other value chain partners.
• Data Center Workforce Initiative of the Year
  • The project/initiative must have been completed between September 1, 2023 and September 1, 2024.
  • Any organization which is actively involved in the data center industry is eligible to enter their project or initiative into this category. This could be global data center operators and end-users or other value chain partners.
• Data Center Construction Team of the Year
  • This category is open to any new data center build project where the construction team was assembled and has been working on a project completed within the previous 12 months (September 1, 2023 and September 1, 2024).
  • This award will be presented jointly to the end-user/operator who commissioned the data center and the head(s) of the team responsible for its construction.
• Data Center Operations Team of the Year
  • This category is open to any operational team working on especially challenging projects or assignments within a data center facility or across several facilities completed within the previous 12 months (September 1, 2023 and September 1, 2024).
  • Teams from operators of any category of data center (enterprise, colocation/data center services, MSP, ISP, cloud provider etc) are eligible for this category. Teams may include people from a number of different organizations, for example, data center staff, consultant, vendors etc.
• Young Mission Critical Engineer of the Year
  • This category is open to any individual actively involved in the mission critical domain whether they work in data center design, operations, management, systems architecture or even software engineering. To qualify, the individual must be aged 30 or under on December 1, 2024.
• Data Center Woman of the Year
  • They welcome nominations for women from across the industry. This category is open to any female professional actively involved in the mission critical domain whether they work in data center strategy, design, operations, management, systems architecture or even software engineering. To qualify, the individual must be female.

For more information, visit DCD.