Applying for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
Improve Performance and Get World-Class Results
Do you want to improve your organization’s performance on the critical factors that drive success? Are you looking for a cost-effective way to gain an outside perspective on your organization’s strengths and opportunities for improvement? Are you looking for a way to engage your customers and energize and motivate your employees?
If your answer is “yes,” consider applying for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Award applicants say the Baldrige evaluation process is one of the best, most cost-effective, most comprehensive performance assessments you can find. They find high value in the process whether or not they receive the Baldrige Award. Many organizations apply for the Baldrige Award as a next step after self-assessment, with the goal of increasing their rate of improvement.
Applying for the Baldrige Award is an opportunity to have a team of experts examine your organization objectively and identify strengths and opportunities to improve. Baldrige Award applications are evaluated by an independent Board of Examiners composed primarily of experts from all sectors of the U.S. economy. Baldrige examiners look for achievements and improvements in all categories in the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence. Organizations that pass an initial screening are visited by teams of examiners to verify information in the application and clarify questions that come up during the review. Each applicant receives a feedback report—a detailed written summary of strengths and opportunities for improvement in each area addressed by the Baldrige Criteria.
About the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award is the highest level of national recognition for performance excellence that a U.S. organization can receive. The award focuses on performance in six key areas:
- Product and process outcomes
- Customer-focused outcomes
- Workforce-focused outcomes
- Leadership and governance outcomes
- Financial and market outcomes
Organizations do not receive the award for specific products or services. To be selected as an award recipient, an organization must have a system that
- ensures continuous improvement in overall performance in delivering products and/or services
- provides an approach for satisfying and responding to customers and stakeholders
Up to 18 awards are given annually across six eligibility categories: manufacturing, service, small business, education, health care, and nonprofit. Award recipients that are nominated for a subsequent award are not included in the total cap of 18.
What Applicant Organizations Receive
Each year, dozens of organizations apply for the prestigious award applicants benefit from
- Feedback from a team of experts based on 300-1,000 hours of review
The results of this review are synthesized in a feedback report outlining strengths and opportunities for improvement based on the Criteria (
see a case study and its feedback report).
- A focus on organizational improvement and effective resource utilization
Organizations often use feedback reports as part of their strategic planning process to focus on their customers, improve results, and help energize and guide their organizational improvement efforts.
- The opportunity to become a national role model
- The pride of receiving a Presidential award, if selected
