BCS Search Industry Awards 2026 +++ Final Call for Nominations (deadline 7 November 2026) +++ We are delighted to announce this year’s Search Industry Awards, celebrating the best search innovations of 2026. Presented by the Information Retrieval Specialist Group of the BCS https://www.bcs.org/membership-and-registrations/member-communities/information-retrieval-specialist-group/, these awards recognize people, projects, and organisations around the world that have excelled in the design of search and information retrieval products and services. If you know of any people, projects, or products that deserve recognition, let us know by submitting a nomination. Alternatively, if you’re involved with something special yourself, you can submit an application https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1a8BKRe2IREDubXhz5F5-ESiKA3ulMwLvCQHmQHdD9Fk/edit today. Categories This year we are offering four awards: (1) Best Search Project recognises the most impactful implementation of search technology or methodology in solving a specific problem or need. Previous winners include: PyTerrier https://pyterrier.readthedocs.io/en/latest/, an open-source Python framework for Information Retrieval research and experimentation Datafari Enterprise Search https://www.datafari.com/en/index.html, an open-source end-to-end solution covering the needs of enterprise search scenarios CiteSeerX https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/, one of the largest open-source academic search engines with over 10 million documents (2) Search Professional of the Year is made to an individual who has made a significant contribution through their work and professionalism. Previous winners include: Jayaprakash Sundararaj https://www.linkedin.com/in/osjayaprakash/, Lead Engineer at Google Amey Porobo Dharwadker https://ameydhar.com/, Machine Learning Tech Lead Manager at Meta Adam Tocock https://www.whittington.nhs.uk/mini-apps/staff/profile/?id=2478, Library Assistant at NHS (3) Most promising Start-up (or new Enterprise) recognises the innovative and disruptive potential of a business model, technology, or solution. Previous winners include: deepset.ai http://deepset.ai/, a leader in framework and platform technology that accelerates AI application development with large language models (LLMs); and the creator of the Haystack open-source framework batteryincluded.ai http://batteryincluded.ai/, First BI Product Discovery Framework incl. 3 pillars for highest relevance within global product listings Giotto AI https://www.giotto.ai/, an all-in-one platform to automatize, digitalize, and standardize the data collection, analysis and writing of a Clinical Evaluation Report (4) Best Presentation at Search Solutions Previous winners include: Mark Harwood https://www.linkedin.com/in/elasticmark-harwood/, ex-Elastic: “Plasticine Not Porcelain: Shaping Embeddings Through Interactive Clustering” Taketomo Isazawa https://www.linkedin.com/in/taketomoisazawa/, Microsoft Research: “Beyond RAG: Integrating Knowledge with LLMs” Charlie Hull https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliehullsearch/, OSC: “Pragmatic AI-powered Search — Keeping it Simple, not Stupid” Filip Radlinski https://www.linkedin.com/in/filip-radlinski-b566294/, Google: “Challenges with Really Understanding Natural Language in Conversational Recommendation” The last award is open only to presenters at Search Solutions, and will be judged on the day of the event. For all others, apply today https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1a8BKRe2IREDubXhz5F5-ESiKA3ulMwLvCQHmQHdD9Fk/edit! Judging Panel Winners will be selected by our panel of judges (details to be announced shortly). Awards Ceremony The awards ceremony will take place during Search Solutions 2026 https://www.bcs.org/membership-and-registrations/member-communities/information-retrieval-specialist-group/conferences-and-events/search-solutions/. Apply We’ve designed the application process https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1a8BKRe2IREDubXhz5F5-ESiKA3ulMwLvCQHmQHdD9Fk/edit to be simple to complete: If you are unsure which category to apply for, or have questions about the application process, contact us via the address below. For further details, see: https://www.bcs.org/membership-and-registrations/member-communities/informat... https://www.bcs.org/membership-and-registrations/member-communities/information-retrieval-specialist-group/awards/bcs-search-industry-awards/ Nominations will remain open until +++ 7th November 2026 +++ (extended deadline).
Figure 1: Scan this QR-Code to apply for Search Industry Awards now. Contact If you have any questions on the above, please contact the Awards Chair at udo.kruschwitz@ur.de mailto:udo.kruschwitz@ur.de with a copy to the IRSG Events Organiser at tgr2uk+irsg@gmail.com mailto:tgr2uk+irsg@gmail.com About IRSG The IRSG is a Specialist Group of BCS https://www.bcs.org/. Its mission is to provide a focus for the European IR community, facilitate communication between researchers and practitioners and promote the adoption of IR research within industry. We host a major European conference (ECIR) and provide an associated programme of workshops, seminars and events. The IRSG is free to join via the BCS website, which provides access to further IR articles, events and resources. BCS is the industry body for IT professionals. With members in over 100 countries around the world, BCS is the leading professional and learned society in the field of computers and information systems.