Your work deserves recognition — here's how to enter the CMAs 2026

Nominations for the Canadian Mortgage Awards close August 14. Find out how to submit your name, or another worthy nominee's, ahead of that deadline

Your work deserves recognition — here's how to enter the CMAs 2026

The Canadian Mortgage Awards (CMA) are the most recognised benchmark of excellence in Canada's mortgage industry.

The 2026 edition arrives at a pivotal moment for the industry as 1.15 million mortgages are projected to come up for renewal in Canada in 2026 alone, the largest single-year cohort on record, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Against that backdrop, the awards recognise the professionals who are not merely surviving the current environment, but setting the standard within it.

For any mortgage professional in Canada who has not yet gone through the CMA process, the pathway from nomination to the winner's podium involves five distinct stages, each with specific timelines and requirements.

Stage 1: Submitting a nomination

The nomination window for the 2026 Canadian Mortgage Awards opened on June 8, 2026 and closes August 14, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

The call is open to all mortgage professionals and organisations operating in Canada, including brokers, brokerages, lenders, BDMs, underwriters, agents, and service providers are all eligible.

To submit a nomination, visit the Nominate page at canadianmortgageawards.com and provide the nominee's contact details along with a brief reason for nomination, capped at 300 words. There is no fee to submit.

A nominee does not need to put themselves forward as colleagues, clients, peers, and employers can all nominate on a professional's behalf.

Nominators who use the space to speak directly to specific outcomes — a deal closed under difficult conditions, a client retained through a complex renewal, measurable volume growth achieved in a challenging rate environment — give the research team the clearest picture of why a nominee belongs in consideration.

Stage 2: Research and supplementation

Once the nomination window closes, the CMA team does not rely solely on what is submitted. The team conducts independent research, drawing on intelligence gathered through Canadian Mortgage Professional magazine and its editorial coverage of the industry, to supplement nominations and ensure that high-performing professionals who were not nominated are not overlooked.

Excellence awardees are determined from both pools of information: submitted nominations and the research layer.

A corresponding announcement is then made across CMP's media channels. This dual-input model means the awards capture the full breadth of standout performance across the Canadian mortgage industry in 2025, not just those who happened to be nominated by an engaged network.

Stage 3: Excellence awardees and the detailed submission

Once research is complete, excellence awardees are selected in each category — with the exception of the Lifetime Achievement category — and notified by email or phone.

An excellence awardee designation is itself a meaningful recognition: it places a professional among the top performers in their category nationally.

All excellence awardees are then invited to complete a detailed submission, which functions as an extended opportunity to address the category criteria with depth and specificity.

Submissions are kept strictly confidential and are not shared with any third parties other than the judging panel.

Excellence awardees will be officially announced in September 2026 on the CMA website and promoted across CMP magazine and its online channels.

Promotional packages are available for purchase, allowing awardees to amplify the recognition across their own marketing.

Stage 4: Independent judging in October and November

All detailed submissions from excellence awardees are forwarded to an independent judging panel comprising mortgage and finance industry leaders and senior sector representatives from across Canada.

Voting commences in October and November 2026. The panel's mandate is to be impartial, balanced, and fair. Any judge with a conflict of interest in a given category must recuse themselves from judging that category.

The independence of the judging panel is central to what gives a CMA win its weight in the Canadian mortgage market. Brokers and lenders who display a CMA winner's badge are signalling something that was assessed by their own peers and competitors, not self-reported.

Stage 5: Winners announced November 25, 2026

Winners are determined using a points-based system that aggregates votes from the judging panel. The excellence awardee with the highest score in a category is named the winner.

Results are announced at the awards show on November 25, 2026, and simultaneously published on the CMA website, with coverage in CMP magazine and across its digital channels.

Promotional packages are available to winners, providing professionally produced assets to leverage the recognition in client communications, social media, and business development.

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