Nominations open for the 2026 Middle East Consultant Awards
Excellence will be recognised across 28 distinct categories, with nominations set to close on a hard deadline of 30 October 2026
Nominations have opened today (11 August) for the 2026 edition of the annual Middle East Consultant Awards (MEC Awards), the MEC editorial team confirmed. The MEC team also highlighted that nominations have a hard deadline of 30 October this year.
Excellence will be recognised across 3-groups (Company, Individual and Project) via a total of 28 unique categories. Based on feedback from the industry, 2-new categories were added for the 2026 edition to specifically recognise boutique consultancies and their leadership. Click here to see all the categories.
Once nominations close, all the entries will first be studied by the MEC editorial team, with the strongest nominations moving into a second round of eliminations, which will be conducted by an independent panel of industry personalities. An in-person meeting of the judges will take place sometime in November, following which a shortlist of nominations will be published. The gala dinner is scheduled to take place on 9 December in Dubai; a venue will be announced in due course, the MEC team confirmed.
The MEC team also said that a new mechanism has been put in place with regards to nominations to encourage companies to submit nominations well ahead of the 30 October nomination hard deadline.
“The MEC Awards continue to be a highly respected and hotly anticipated staple event for architects and consultants across the Middle East. In response to feedback the editorial team has received from the industry and a desire to cover the full breadth of the architecture and consultancy segment, I made the decision to add a couple of new categories this year. The ‘Boutique Consultancy of the Year’ and ‘Boutique Consultancy Leader of the Year’ categories are specifically designed to recognise boutique firms with less than 20 members of staff and their leadership,” commented Jason Saundalkar, Editorial Director, Built Environment & Heavy Industry Divisions at CPI Trade Media.
“We’ve also put in a place a new mechanism to encourage companies to submit their nominations well in advance of the 30 October hard deadline, so that the 2-phase judging process can unfold in the appropriate amount of time rather than at an accelerated pace,” Saundalkar added.
The 2026 edition of the MEC Awards is being supported by:
Silver Sponsor: Mott MacDonald
Nomination inquiries for the Middle East Consultant Awards can be directed to Jason.S@cpitrademedia.com and Clayton.Aldo@cpitrademedia.com.
Read more about the Middle East Consultant Awards by clicking here.
