User experience award

Applications are now open for our 2024 award. Apply by 17 November 2023!

Apply for our UX award
best publisher ux 2020 award

About our award

Our UX award puts the spotlight on those publishers and library systems vendors that strive to put their users at the heart of their service design with the simple aim of giving users easy access to their content. The award builds on our ongoing commitment to drive forward innovation in the information industry and to make access to knowledge as easy as possible for end users.

Our goal is to inspire a wide range of online library service vendors to invest resource in developing the best user journey to content and services through this award.

Who can apply?

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

Publishers

Library systems

Research and analytics tools

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What is the process?

Key dates:

  • 5 September 2023: Award applications open
  • 17 November 2023: Deadline for applications
  • 5 December 2023: Finalists announced
  • 18 January 2024: Finalists submit evidence of learner and researcher attitudes and reactions to changes in user experience​
  • 8 February 2024: Finalists webinar
  • 26 February 2024: Winner announced at our Access Lab 2024 event
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How to apply

Award criteria

We’ll provide more details but these criteria are broadly what we’re looking for:

  1. Evidence of user experience research.
  2. Demonstrate good user experience design.
  3. Tangible evidence of learner and researcher engagement throughout the project.
  4. Demonstrate an improved simple, seamless user journey.
  5. Provide a statement of compliance with WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility guidelines.
  6. Define user experience goals and objectives, and explain how you measured success.
  7. Evidence how a user experience approach was strategically adopted and embedded across the organization.
  8. Describe your future plans for user research and how a user experience approach has been embedded in product development.
Apply now!
Apply now!
Award finalists 2023

Learn more about publisher UX innovations at our 2023 finalists webinar where our three finalists: Oxford University Press, SAGE Publishing and Yale University Press share more about the work they do around user experience. Last year’s winner De Gruyter also give a short update on their UX work since winning the award in 2022.

Previous UX award finalists and winners

2022 UX award finalists

De Gruyter won our 2022 award. During the webinar you’ll hear how our finalists, Cambridge University Press and De Gruyter have put learners and researchers at the very heart of their service design. You’ll also hear from our 2021 winners nkoda about changes to user experience since they won last March.

2021 UX award finalists

The winner of the 2021 award was nkoda. Find out why they won and watch their presentation at our Access Lab 2021 conference! Our other finalist Health Data Research won a highly commended award.

2020 UX award finalists

Emerald Publishing won the award in 2020 for its Emerald Insight  platform. Find out why they won and watch their presentation at our Access Lab 2020 conference! The other two finalists were Bloomsbury Publishing: Bloomsbury Digital Resources and Cambridge University Press: Cambridge Core

Apply for our UX award

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Any queries?

Please contact Jane Charlton, senior marketing manager – community and content at OpenAthens.

Contact Jane