NIST Launches Renewed Baldrige Award Program to Focus on Resilience and Long-Term Success

GAITHERSBURG, Md. — The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced today a renewed Baldrige Performance Excellence Award Program, focused on identifying and recognizing organizations that are role models of resilience and long-term success. The redesigned award program features a streamlined, results-focused evaluation process using a tailored set of new Baldrige Award criteria derived from the literature on organizational resilience and the Baldrige Excellence Framework®. The new criteria are intended to help organizations adapt, innovate and thrive in a dynamic environment where change and disruption are constant.

“For more than 35 years, the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program has helped businesses and other organizations improve their performance and long-term success in part through the Presidential Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award,” said Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “The reinvigorated Baldrige Award will recognize role-model manufacturers, small businesses, and organizations that demonstrate success and sustainability and that want to share their best practices to enable other organizations and their communities to become more resilient.”

The application for the renewed 2024 Baldrige Award is now open for organizations in six categories covering the U.S economy: manufacturing, service, small business, health care, and the education and nonprofit sectors. Applicants must complete the eligibility portion of the application process by 6 p.m. Eastern Time, March 12, 2024. The award application deadline is April 2, 2024, at 6 p.m. Eastern Time.

The benefits of applying for the Baldrige Award include:

• Potential presidential and U.S. Department of Commerce recognition as a national role model;
• Potential recognition for having significant impact in an area of importance to your organization and its key stakeholders;
• Insights from expert evaluations, best-practices sharing and a nationwide learning community; and
• Stronger communities, businesses and organizational networks that support the national economy.

A new, user-friendly online process will allow applicants to submit information about their organization’s performance results or outcomes in areas such as leadership, planning, workforce and operations.

Baldrige Award recipients will be recognized during a formal ceremony in the Washington, D.C., area in the spring of 2025. The ceremony will be followed by the Quest for Excellence® Conference, where Baldrige Award recipients share their nonproprietary best practices and innovations. The conference is attended by health care organizations, educational institutions, large and small businesses, manufacturers, and other entities that contribute to our nation’s economic vitality.

The Baldrige Performance Excellence Program is a public-private partnership within the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which is dedicated to promoting U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards and technology. The program has fostered the adoption of proven leadership, management and operational best practices, and supported a global community that values people, organizational learning, continuous improvement and striving for sustained excellence.