We welcome submissions from all individuals and organizations—including startups, established companies, policymakers, public agencies, non-profits, and community-driven efforts—who are advancing the shift to an electrified future and fully electric economy.

Eligible projects may span various technologies, policies, scales, and stages of development. For example, submissions might include:

• Technologies such as hardware, software, or infrastructure tools.
• Sectors such as transportation, buildings, manufacturing, public fleets, and grid modernization or resilience efforts.
• Policies that prioritize electrification solutions and break down financial, infrastructure, or access barriers to create a more equitable electrified future.
• Scales ranging from individual products to citywide or statewide systems.
• Stages of development from early pilots and prototypes to mature, widely deployed solutions.

Submissions that are replicable, scalable, or help ensure the electrification transition benefits everyone are especially encouraged. A particular focus will be placed on projects that:

• Broaden access to clean energy technologies
• Fill critical gaps in the current transition
• Demonstrate potential to deliver widespread community or climate benefits

Winners of the Electric Innovation Awards are members of an elite group recognized for their trailblazing efforts to create a fully electric future in the United States. Each winner receives:

• A trip to New York Climate Week with all airfare and accommodation covered.
• Speaking opportunities at the Electric Innovation Awards Ceremony and Electric Innovation Forum, with 500+ executive attendees (funders/investors, industry leaders, electeds).
• Invitations to closed door events during New York Climate Week with funders, partners, and other industry leaders.
• A high quality mini documentary—such as this one highlighting the 2025 Policy Innovation Awardee—showcasing the winning project, its impact, and potential.
• Exclusive access to members of the Electric Innovation Initiative network, including philanthropic leaders, business executives, elected officials, and other key decision makers. These relationships are curated by Electric Innovation staff on behalf of winners based on their needs, interests, and evolving opportunities.
• Features in the Electric Innovation Initiative’s year-round programming, including exclusive in-state innovation tours with elected officials.
• Highlights in Electric Innovation’s social media, promotional materials, and national media pitching.

Submissions selected as honorable mentions receive:

• Recognition at the Electric Innovation Awards Ceremony and Forum during New York City Climate Week.
• Invitations to attend New York City Climate Week, the Electric Innovation Awards Ceremony, and Electric Innovation Forum.
• Inclusion, when possible, in site visits with elected officials.

There is no single thing we are looking for in applications. Rather, we want to see how you are using electrification solutions to close gaps, overcome barriers, break into new markets, and supercharge the economy. We created four awards categories to recognize the different ways in which electrification solutions can be applied:

• Policy Innovation Award
  Honors public sector leaders advancing electrification through bold policies and programs. This award celebrates elected and executive leaders—across local, state, and tribal governments—who are championing policies that drive real progress on electrification. Whether through ambitious building codes, innovative financing tools, or expansive retrofit programs, these leaders are setting a powerful example for how government can meet the moment.
  2025 Policy Innovation Award Winner - The City of Atlanta's EV Readiness Ordinance
• Design + Discovery Award
  Recognizes breakthrough design and electrification solutions that inspire the public and open up new terrain. From sleek consumer products to bold conceptual ideas, this award celebrates the power of design to unlock cultural change and spark consumer desire. It also honors trailblazers bringing electrification to surprising sectors such as public safety, healthcare, or industrial processes; showing that no domain is too complex or too entrenched to be reimagined. These efforts make electrification not only possible, but irresistible.
  2025 Design + Discovery Award Winner - Gradient Window Heat Pumps
• Scale Catalyst Award
  Highlights projects designed to grow. These projects are scalable, transferable, and ready to rapidly spread the benefits of clean energy far and wide. This award honors initiatives that are built for growth. Whether through modular design, smart policy, or powerful partnerships, these efforts lay the blueprint for impact that reaches far beyond their place of origin.
  2025 Scale Catalyst Award Winner - Electrify America's Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) National Project
• Power For All Award
  Celebrates frontline-led efforts that fill key gaps to expand access to clean energy, healthy homes, and good jobs to communities often left without them. This award uplifts the community-rooted and tribal visionaries ensuring the clean energy transition leaves no one behind. From building resilient microgrids to expanding access to clean appliances for healthy homes, these projects drive solutions rooted in equity, sovereignty, and stewardship—proving that the most inclusive path is also the most powerful.
  2025 Power For All Award Winner - Zum's Vehicle-to-Grid Electric School Bus

We also consider geographic diversity, program maturity, scalability, policy implications and opportunities, technology development, and project uniqueness when reviewing submissions.

All submissions are due by Wednesday, June 3, 2026.

The second annual Electric Innovation Awards open for submissions on April 1, 2026. The submission form is open until 11:59PM PT on June 3, 2026.

All submissions will be reviewed at least twice by members of the judges’ panel and Electric Innovation Initiative team. Winners and honorable mentions will be notified of their selection in July 2026, with all recognized projects announced publicly during New York Climate Week at the Electric Innovation Awards Ceremony on September 23, 2026.

Each submission is thoroughly reviewed by at least two people, including at least one member of the expert judge panel. Submissions are then scored based on impact and scalability, feasibility and policy alignment, innovation and breakthrough potential, and accessibility and equitable reach. The final selection is made by the Electric Innovation Initiative based on these scores, feedback from reviewers, and the overall quality of the application.

We are thrilled to have an impressive panel of judges from across clean energy, philanthropy, business, and non-profit sectors. Be sure to learn more about them!

No, there is not a way to edit your submission. If there is a significant error, please contact the Electric Innovation Initiative at hello@electricinnovation.org with your submission name, contact information, and the nature of the error for review.

While we wish we could provide feedback, due to the number of submissions received, the members of the judges’ panel and Electric Innovation are unable to provide comments or suggestions.

Absolutely! In fact we encourage projects and programs to resubmit. Please let us know what you have been working on over the last year and how your work is evolving.

Yes. We want to learn about electrification trailblazers across industries and sectors. If there is a project or program that you think should be considered, please fill out the submission form and follow the prompts for a nomination. Please note that we do request you notify the program/project you nominate of your submission and provide us with the name and contact information of someone we can contact with any questions or next steps.

We are here to help! Please email us at hello@electricinnovation.org with the subject line “Additional Electric Innovation Award Questions” and a member of our team will contact you.