Breaking New Ground: Announcing the Frontier Awards Program

Somewhere in your orbit, there’s someone who didn’t wait for permission to push AI forward. They built the agent. They drove the adoption. They turned skeptics into believers and pilots into production. They deserve to be recognized.

Cloudforce—the Frontier Firm behind nebulaONE® and Microsoft’s 2025 Partner of the Year—is launching the Frontier Awards Program: an inaugural celebration of the people who boldly push boundaries and redefine what’s possible in the world of AI solutions.

This isn’t just another award program. It’s a rigorous, expert-evaluated recognition of the individuals and partners doing the hardest, most impactful work in AI today.

What Are the Frontier Awards? 

Microsoft defines a Frontier Firm as an organization that doesn’t just experiment with AI—it embeds intelligence across every layer of the business, blending human judgment with machine capability to scale faster, operate with agility, and generate value that others can’t. Cloudforce was built on that principle. The Frontier Awards exist to find the people who embody it.

This year’s Frontier Awards are Cloudforce’s inaugural recognition program, designed to celebrate the achievements of individuals who:

  • Drive innovation in AI solutions.
  • Champion adoption, advocacy, and transformation.
  • Achieve measurable success with technical excellence.

Who Can Participate? 

The Frontier Awards are open to:

  • Customers & Practitioners: The pioneers driving transformative AI outcomes across the public sector and beyond.
  • Microsoft Partners: Those who collaborate with Cloudforce to drive shared innovation and meaningful impact.

Self-nominations aren’t just accepted—they’re encouraged. If you’ve done the work, own it.

Award Categories 

With seven distinct categories, there’s a place to recognize every type of innovator. Each category will have finalists and one winner. Which one makes you think of someone immediately?

  1. 🛠 Technical Hero: Honoring individuals who go above and beyond to solve complex challenges, improve reliability, and ensure mission-critical success.
  2. 🔄 Change Champion: Celebrating those who lead transformative change, inspire teams, and challenge the status quo to adopt new ways of working.
  3. 📣 Amplified Advocate: Highlighting AI superfans who promote innovative utilization, share success stories, and grow the AI community through advocacy and referrals.
  4. 🚀 Adoption Accelerator: Recognizing customers who rapidly scaled AI tools and embedded them into daily operations with measurable results.
  5. 🤖 Best Agent / Use Case: Awarding creativity and strategic thinking in implementing AI to solve real-world challenges.
  6. Customer of the Year: Spotlighting a customer who exemplifies excellence across adoption, innovation, advocacy, and measurable business impact.
  7. 🤝 Partner of the Year (Microsoft Employees Only): Celebrating those who drive shared innovation and meaningful impact through partnership.

Timeline 

Nominations will be open from today until 3/26/26. It’s your chance to nominate a colleague, partner, or even yourself! A committee with work to select/announce finalist/winners shortly after. 

How Winners Are Selected

Every nomination is evaluated by a distinguished panel of Cloudforce executives, Microsoft leaders, and respected voices from across the AI industry. This is not a rubber stamp.

The evaluation criteria are rooted in the same principles that define what it means to be a Frontier organization:

  • Depth of AI integration — not just experimentation, but enterprise-scale transformation
  • Measurable business impact — real outcomes, not just impressive demos
  • Innovation mindset — leading with AI-first differentiation, not following
  • Community and ecosystem contribution — elevating others, not just yourself

Finalists are reviewed through a multi-stage process that includes panel scoring, cross-reference validation, and deliberation. If you’re selected, it means something.

What’s a Winner get? 

This is about prestige—and access.

🏆 The Frontier Award — a handcrafted award designed to mark a career milestone (yes, the one pictured above—and yes, it belongs on your shelf)

📣 Global Recognition — winners announced via LinkedIn and a worldwide press release, plus a dedicated spotlight feature on Cloudforce’s website

🏅 Digital Badges & Swag — because you’ve earned the bragging rights

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why It Matters 

The Frontier Awards aren’t just about trophies 🏆 (though ours is admittedly hard to stop looking at). They’re about celebrating the people behind the technology—the innovators, the advocates, and the changemakers who make AI solutions come alive.

By sharing success stories and recognizing excellence through a rigorous, credible process, we’re building a stronger, more connected community. And we’re shining a spotlight on the incredible impact our customers and partners are making every day.

Ready to Nominate? 

The official nomination form is linked here. Think about the colleague, the partner, the customer—or yourself—who’s doing breakthrough work in AI. The person who made the impossible deployment happen. The one who got an entire organization onboarded in a month. The advocate who won’t stop talking about what’s possible (in the best way).

This is their moment. Don’t let it pass.

Nominations are free and open until March 26, 2026. Have questions? Email aharding@gocloudforce.com.

Anna Harding
Author

Anna’s professional journey began as a high school math teacher, where she combined clarity and care to help students succeed. She then advanced to roles as an assistant principal and a district-level data administrator, where she led with both vision and precision. With a deep love for technology and all things efficiency, she brings clarity and structure to even the most complex problems. Whether she’s streamlining workflows or uncovering insights through data, Anna is fueled by a strong work ethic and an unshakable commitment to integrity. She’s as passionate about people as she is about process, building meaningful relationships and fostering collaboration wherever she goes.

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