For more than two decades, enterprise architecture has swung in and out of favor — embraced during periods of consolidation, sidelined during waves of decentralization, cloud adoption, and agile delivery. Predictions of EA’s demise have been a recurring industry pastime. But the data no longer supports that narrative.

Across four consecutive years of Forrester survey research, enterprise architecture has stopped oscillating between relevance and rejection and has settled into a durable, institutional role inside modern enterprises. Organizations are formalizing EA as a sustained capability, moving beyond simply “retaining” architects. Architecture job titles continue to rise, named architecture units are becoming the norm rather than the exception, and the number of organizations that say they “used to have architecture” has fallen to an all‑time low. Enterprise architecture is becoming infrastructure for digital and IT decision‑making at scale, rather than a temporary construct as it has sometimes been thought of in the past.

That shift is visible not just in surveys, but in practice. The submissions and winners of the 2025 Enterprise Architecture Awards demonstrated what this new equilibrium looks like: EA teams operating as influential, outcome‑driven organizations that shape technology strategy, manage risk, govern complexity, and enable growth. The strongest entries showed architecture embedded in how decisions are made — not as after‑the‑fact review, but as a continuous force guiding investment and execution.

With that momentum, we are opening submissions for the 2026 Enterprise Architecture Awards.

What We Saw In 2025 — And Why It Matters For 2026

The 2025 award submissions across APAC, EMEA, and North America shared a common theme: enterprise architecture works when it is clearly tied to business outcomes and operated at scale.

In APAC, submissions stood out for quantified benefits, enterprise‑wide scope, and disciplined execution, demonstrating how EA can anchor large‑scale transformation in fast‑growing, complex markets.

In EMEA, winning teams showed how federated EA models drive consistency without sacrificing local autonomy, particularly in regulated and multi‑market environments.

In North America, finalists and winners demonstrated mature EA practices tightly integrated with platform modernization, generative AI initiatives, and measurable operational and customer outcomes.

Across regions, the strongest entries shared several characteristics:

  • A clear line of sight from architecture decisions to business outcomes.
  • Evidence of influence beyond IT, including executive decision‑making and operational change.
  • Metrics that mattered — not activity measures, but outcome measures.

These patterns directly inform what we’re looking for in 2026 submissions.

What We’re Looking For In 2026

The 2026 Enterprise Architecture Awards will continue to recognize organizations that demonstrate outcome‑driven enterprise architecture — the practical union of business, data, application, technology, and solution architecture operating as a program, often in a federated model.

Strong submissions will show how EA materially contributes to:

  • Risk reduction
  • Cost efficiency
  • Customer and employee experience
  • Revenue growth or mission outcomes

We are particularly interested in how EA teams:

  • Shape and execute technology strategy roadmaps, and directly impact portfolio health and technical debt.
  • Enable timely, strategic decisions rather than retrospective documentation.
  • Measure success using metrics that executives care about.
  • Engage with AI and generative AI, whether applying AI to architecture itself or governing and enabling AI across the enterprise.

How To Strengthen Your Submission

Based on patterns across the 2025 submissions — and frequent missteps — a few points are worth emphasizing.

Winning submissions lead with outcomes, not frameworks. They quantify benefits, provide baselines and actuals, and show enterprise‑level impact. They include evidence: metrics, dashboards, governance artifacts, and decision records. They tell a transformation story, showing how EA influenced change over time rather than presenting a static snapshot.

What consistently weakens submissions:

  • Architecture narratives disconnected from business results.
  • Tool‑centric or framework‑centric stories without evidence of adoption or impact.
  • Claims without metrics or corroborating artifacts.

Finally, a reminder: if you win or place, we will ask to work with you on a public case study derived from your submission. If key elements cannot be shared, the award is likely not a good fit.

Why Enter?

The Enterprise Architecture Awards remain the only global awards program dedicated solely to enterprise architecture excellence, partnering with The Open Group and drawing on industry experts as judges.

Past winners consistently report that the awards process itself was valuable — clarifying strategy, sharpening metrics, and strengthening executive alignment.

Winning or placing also sends a strong signal to peers, boards, and leadership teams that EA is a strategic, outcome‑driven capability, not an ivory‑tower function.

Apply here!