Call for USMC Nominations for the 2026 Department of the Navy Information Superiority Excellence Awards Program

1.  The Department of Navy (DON) Information
Superiority Excellence Awards is the most prestigious and longest
running award program recognizing excellence in Information
Superiority and Digital Warfighting. For two and a half decades,
the DON Chief Information Officer (CIO) has presented awards that
recognize both individual and team contributions. Starting in 2000
as the "eGov Awards," they were renamed in 2005 to the "DON IM/IT
Excellence Awards." In 2025, the award name was updated to "DON
Information Superiority Excellence Awards" to emphasize warfighting
applications of technology and align with the DON Information
Superiority Vision version 2.0. Awards will be presented in the
following categories for work performed during the fiscal year 2025:  
1.a. Optimize: Prioritized, agile, resilient, and relevant Naval
Information Environment.  
1.b. Secure: Defendable and survivable by design.  
1.c. Decide: Ready, maneuverable data driving decision advantage
for the warfighter.  
1.d. Innovate: Actively scout game changing technologies, practices,
and processes that can expedite our competitive advantage.  
1.e. Workforce: Adapt our workforce to an evolving cyber domain.  
1.f. DON Information Superiority Person of the Year  
1.g. DON Information Superiority Rising Star of the Year 
2. Award criteria. Nomination content requirements are contained
in reference (a). 
3. Eligibility. Service members (Officers and Enlisted) in the
grade O-6 and below or DoD civilians GS-15 or equivalent and below
are eligible for nomination. Contractors may be recognized as part 
of a team if led by military or DoD civilian. 
4. Nominations. 
4.a. Nominations. Qualified individuals and/or teams will be
submitted via the first O-6 in the chain of command to the Service
CIO, the Deputy Commandant for Information (DC I).  
4.b. Service CIO Nominations. The DC I will review, approve, and
submit the most qualified candidates for each award category to
the DON CIO. 
4.c. DON CIO Selection. Nominee selections are based on the strength
of the award justification by a panel comprised of Navy,
Marine Corps, and DON CIO judges. Forwarding letters and/or
endorsements are not required. The official DON CIO Winners
Announcement listing all 2026 Awardees will be released via
separate correspondence.
5. Awards Presentation. The DON Information Superiority Excellence
Awards ceremony will be held at a date to be determined.
More details to follow. 
6. Administration and Logistics. 
6.a. USMC nominations must contain all requested information and be
uploaded to https://usmc.sharepoint-mil.us/sites/DCI/Awards/
SitePages/Awards.aspx by COB 30 December 2025. No hard copy
submissions will be accepted. Due to the timeline, no extensions
will be approved. 
6.b. All nominations must be coordinated through the nominee's
chain-of-command for quality review and eligibility. 
6.c. The references, nomination template, and further guidance
can be found at the following website:
https://usmc.sharepoint-mil.us/sites/DCI/
Awards/SitePages//DON_IT_Awards.aspx
7. Command and Signal. 
7.a. This MARADMIN is applicable to the Marine Corps Total Force. 
7.b. Ensure widest dissemination of this MARADMIN. 
7.c. Questions regarding the DON Information Superiority Excellence
Awards should be 
directed to the POCs listed in this MARADMIN. 
8. Release authorized by Lieutenant General M. G. Carter,
Headquarters Marine Corps, Deputy Commandant for Information.