Women MAKE Awards Nominations Guide

All nominators must create an account within the platform to submit a nomination. On the home page, please fill out the requested information to create a nominator account.

*Companies are encouraged to have a single point of contact for nominations. As each company is allowed a maximum of 10 applicants, please reach out to the Women MAKE Awards team at [email protected] to find out if your company has a designated main point of contact before creating an account. Please see best practices for ideas on streamlining candidates within your company. 

After logging in, you will be redirected to a welcome page. To submit a nomination application, click the purple button “Start Nomination” at the bottom of the page to get started.

Select the “category” for your application and enter your nominee’s name. Please ensure your nominee fits the criteria for Honoree or Emerging Leader. As a reminder, Emerging Leader is a category to identify rising talent and all applicants must be between the ages of 18 and 30 as of December 31, 2024.

There are five sections to fill out on the nomination application:

1. Details
2. Nominee Information
3. Company Contacts
4. Essays
5. Confirmation

Under nominee information, please indicate your nominee’s regional company address NOT the corporate address. If your nominee is selected, this will ensure correct state and regional publications.

Under company information, an HR and corporate communications contact are requested so that we may inform the regional and national partner as necessary.

The fourth section of the application requires you to complete four essay questions that must be between 150 and 250 words in length. View samples of competitive application essays. Please note: each essay must meet the word count minimum/maximum criteria for a valid entry.

The questions are:

1. Please share a noteworthy contribution and/or technical accomplishment your nominee has achieved at her company and why it is so impactful.
2. Please share a noteworthy contribution your nominee has achieved in her community, and why it is so impactful.
3. Please share how your nominee has been a leader by mentoring others and/or engaging the next generation of female talent.
4. Explain why your nominee should be chosen as a 2025 Women MAKE Honoree or Emerging Leader.

You may save your progress and complete the application later if you cannot complete the application in one sitting.

Scroll to the bottom of the page and click “Save + Close.” When you log back into the system using your nominator ID, your incomplete application will be listed toward the bottom of the Welcome page. Click the nomination to continue your application.

Once your entries are finalized, click “Submit Nomination” at the bottom of the page. We recommend selecting “Preview” to ensure your entries are final before submitting.

Once you submit, you will receive a confirmation email from [email protected] to inform you that we have received your application. To submit another nomination application, repeat steps 1-3!

As a reminder, the maximum number of nominations a company may put forward is 10 applications per company, however, there is a limit to the number of Honorees and/or Emerging Leaders that will be recognized. A maximum of two Honorees and one Emerging Leader may be selected from each company. Companies should make their best effort to ensure the application meets the selection criteria.

Nominations open on Tuesday, August 1, 2024 and will close on Friday, October 11, 2024 at 11:59 PM ET.

You can nominate a female peer or colleague through the Manufacturing Institute’s 2025 Women MAKE Awards page or by going directly to: https://wma.awardsplatform.com/

Candidates are nominated by their peers or company officials. Nominators are asked to articulate how the nominee made significant achievements in manufacturing through their positive impact on a company and their ability to engage the next generation of female talent. Each nomination is reviewed by an external group of peers and former WMA winners and rated on a numerical scale by multiple reviewers.

A nominee may only be nominated by a colleague or peer, such as: company leadership (CEO, senior executives, directors and managers); company colleagues; peers outside a nominee’s company.

Companies are encouraged to have a single point of contact for nominations. Please reach out to the Women MAKE Awards team at [email protected] to find out if your company has a designated main point of contact before creating a nominator account. Please see company best practices for ideas on streamlining candidates within your company.

We do not accept self-nominations, but you can ask someone else to nominate you.

Yes, you may nominate someone outside of your company. However, please be aware that if your nominee is selected, the Manufacturing Institute will reach out to their company to confirm the accuracy of the nomination prior to sending out notifications of selection.

Yes, a company may nominate someone outside of the U.S. as long as that company has U.S. operations.

There is no cost associated with submitting an application, however, if your nominee is selected we do ask that your company is willing to support her to participate in the Leadership Program and Awards ceremony held in Washington, D.C.

A maximum of 10 applications per company may be submitted, however, please note there is a limit to the number of Honorees and/or Emerging Leaders that may be recognized from a single company. If selected, companies will be allowed to have up to two winners: 1 Honoree and 1 Emerging Leader (women under the age of 30) to be recognized at the 2025 Women MAKE Awards. 

The Women MAKE Awards is a competitive award, with a cap of 100 Honorees and 30 Emerging Leaders. Companies should make their best effort to ensure the application meets the selection criteria.

Within the Nominations Guide we have included best practices from small, medium and large size manufacturers for ideas to streamline a process to nominate candidates. These best practices include steps for implementation as well as a main point of contact to reach out to for more information. View company best practices.

The following denotes nominee eligibility:

• Previous Honorees are NOT eligible. Click here to see the list of previous Honorees.
• Previous Nominees ARE eligible.
• Previous Emerging Leaders ARE eligible to be nominated as an Honoree.
• Nominees must currently be employed in manufacturing.

There are two categories nominators may consider:

• Honoree: Nominee is currently employed in manufacturing at any level of the company, from the factory floor to the C-suite.
• Emerging Leader: Nominee is a rising star currently employed in the manufacturing industry that has made significant contributions and excelled early in their career. *An Emerging Leader nominee must be between 18 and 30 years of age as of December 31, 2024.

100 women will be recognized as Honorees. 30 women will be recognized as Emerging Leaders, and those nominated under this category must be between the ages of 18 and 30 as of December 31, 2024.

No.  Recipients of the Women MAKE Award will be invited to attend a two-day professional development program that will occur in advance of the award ceremony. The Women MAKE Award offer Honorees and Emerging Leaders a long-term network of colleagues for business and professional development and mobilizes women to act as a catalyst for change within their company and community.