Entries are now open for the 2026 iSANZ Awards. Organisations, teams and individuals from across Aotearoa New Zealand are invited to enter to showcase their work in helping make our digital connected world safer.
Now in their 12th year, the iSANZ Awards recognise excellence in cybersecurity, celebrating the people and organisations whose innovation, leadership and commitment strengthen New Zealand’s cyber resilience.
iSANZ Board Chair Kendra Ross says the awards are more important than ever before as AI now brings scale, sophistication and frequency to cyber attacks.
“Hardly a week goes by without headlines about ransomware, scams, data breaches or other cyber incidents affecting organisations here and overseas. While those events make the news, what often goes unseen is the extraordinary mahi being carried out every day by cybersecurity professionals building resilience and managing risk, so organisations can defend and recover from major incidents.
“The iSANZ Awards shine a light on that work. Whether you’re protecting critical infrastructure, building innovative security products, leading a security team, educating your workforce or helping customers become more resilient, we want to hear your story, regardless of industry.
“I encourage every organisation and individual making a difference in cybersecurity to take the time to enter. Recognition isn’t just about celebrating success, it’s about sharing ideas, inspiring others and showcasing the depth of talent we have.”
The award categories for 2026 are:
Security Awareness Campaign Of The Year
This category celebrates organisations that have run an outstanding security awareness campaign that genuinely engaged their people and changed behaviour. Whether it was a phishing simulation program, a creative internal communications campaign, a compliance training uplift, or a culture-shifting initiative, tell us how you brought security to life for your people.
Cyber-Resilience Initiative of the Year
This category recognises organisations that have undertaken a significant cyber resilience program that has meaningfully strengthened their security posture. This could be a wide-scale cyber uplift program, a transformative infrastructure or architecture project, an incident response overhaul, a risk remediation initiative, or any other substantial effort that has made the organisation measurably more resilient against cyber threats.
Security Company Of The Year
This category celebrates stand-out organisations that make security their business, rather than something that helps them in business. The security company of the year is awarded to the security company that has not only supported their customers and clients, but has worked to grow the security industry in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Security Team Of The Year
This category celebrates the hardworking, high-performing security teams who are working every day to protect their organisation, mature their capabilities, and make New Zealand a safer place to operate digitally. Whether they’re a small but mighty team punching above their weight, or a larger team delivering excellence at scale, this category recognises the collective effort, culture, and impact that makes a security team truly outstanding.
Start Up Or New Business Of The Year
This category celebrates the exciting, emerging, homegrown, start-ups turning Kiwi talent into innovative products, services, and ideas that are making a real difference. Whether they’re tackling an unsolved problem, disrupting an established space, or bringing a fresh New Zealand perspective to a global challenge, these are the companies we think the industry should have on its radar.
Chief Information Security Officer Of The Year
Great security leadership isn’t just about managing risk – it’s about inspiring teams, influencing boards, and translating complex threats into clear organisational action. This category celebrates the leaders who do all of that, and make it look easy. Whether leading a team of one or one hundred, the best CISOs leave their organisation measurably safer and their people better equipped than they found them.
Up And Coming Cybersecurity Star Of The Year
This category focuses on our new cyber security professionals, celebrating the best and brightest who have recently joined our awesome, growing cyber security industry.
For full details on each award category, eligibility, judging criteria and how to enter, visit the iSANZ website at www.isanz.org.nz.
Key Dates:
Entries Open: 1 July 2026
Entries Close: 14 August 2026
Finalists Announced: 14 September 2026
Winners Announced: 21 October 2026 at Shed 6, Wellington.