7th annual UX Award 2026

We established our UX Award in 2020 to recognize publishers and library systems vendors that have developed the best user experience and journey to their content and services. Our goal through this yearly award is to inspire online library service vendors to invest resource in good UX design and make access to knowledge as easy as possible for end users.

Who can apply?

Online library service vendors of all sizes including, but not limited to:

Publishers
Library systems
Research and analytics tools

Applications for this year’s award are now closed! Keep an eye out for updates on the next stages of the competition.

Award criteria

How to apply

You’ll receive more details of criteria when you apply, but more broadly, we are looking for:

Take a look at last year's winners!

Evidence of user experience research

What research did you do ahead of this project?

Demonstrate good user experience design

Explain the changes to the user journey that were needed and the benefits.

Stakeholder engagement

Tangible evidence of stakeholder engagement (including learners and researchers).

User journey

Demonstrate an improved, simple, and seamless user journey.

Accesibility matters

Provide a statement of compliance with WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility guidelines and evidence of how your product has been adapted for a diverse range of users.

What does success look like?

Define user experience goals and objectives, and explain how you measured success.

A UX-focused approach

Evidence how a user experience focus was strategically adopted and embedded across the organization.

Looking ahead

Describe your future plans for user research and how a user experience focus has been embedded in product development.

PolicyMap future-proof access. Man using laptop to search mapping analytics tool.

Webinar recording: Why publishers are focusing on user experience

Now available on demand

Want to hear more about why publishers are focusing more on delivering a positive user experience and how they do it? Watch our webinar recording to find out more!

In this webinar, previous winners of our UX Award will discuss how a focus on UX design has positively impacted their business, customers and end users. As part of this, our guest speakers will discuss the login experience and access to knowledge. We’ll also touch on quick wins, key success measures and future plans.

Speakers: