Behind every CIJ Awards Romania winner is a structured voting process that combines professional judgement, industry knowledge and the evidence presented by each nominee.
As the CIJ Awards Romania prepares for its 19th edition on 3 December 2026 at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bucharest, understanding how the judging works is particularly important for companies entering projects, transactions, teams and professional achievements into this year’s competition.
The CIJ Awards are not decided by a public popularity vote. Winners are selected through two separate groups of experienced real estate professionals: the Jury Committee and the Online Jury Voting Committee.
Under the CIJ Awards Romania voting structure, the Jury Committee accounts for 61% of the final result, while the Online Jury Voting Committee represents 39%. The two groups vote separately and independently, bringing together focused senior-industry assessment with a broader professional perspective from across the real estate market.
The Jury Committee comprises senior professionals from different areas of the European real estate industry, including representatives of investment funds, investors, developers, architects, property owners and professional service providers. The wider Online Jury Voting Committee adds another layer of market experience, with participants required to have at least five years of real estate experience and to hold top or middle-management positions within companies active in the European property market.
A CIJ Award is not determined simply by the size, value or public profile of a project. Jurors apply their professional knowledge and experience while also considering the information supplied through nomination forms and supporting materials.
Depending on the category, this can involve factors such as the quality and execution of the achievement, its scale and significance, design, value and commercial relevance, together with the companies and teams involved and the contribution the nomination has made to its particular area of the real estate market.
For this reason, the nomination itself plays an important role in the judging process. A strong project or achievement needs to be presented clearly enough for jurors to understand what was delivered and what distinguishes it from competing entries. Relevant facts, measurable results, important milestones and supporting information can help demonstrate the significance of a nomination.
A strong submission should therefore make clear what was achieved, why the achievement matters and why it deserves recognition within the particular category being entered.
An important aspect of the CIJ Awards judging process is that the final decision is comparative. Some categories attract several exceptionally strong candidates, with relatively little separating the leading nominations in terms of quality, execution, innovation, investment significance or market impact. Ultimately, however, only one entry can receive the award.
A project, company, transaction or professional achievement that does not win should therefore not automatically be interpreted as having fallen below an expected standard. Several nominations within the same category may be considered highly competitive, with relatively fine distinctions ultimately determining the final result.
The CIJ Awards rules also contain safeguards designed to protect the integrity of the voting process. Jury Committee and Online Jury members cannot vote in a category in which their own company or project has been nominated and must abstain where such a conflict exists.
Jury Committee members may discuss nominations as part of the evaluation process, but individual votes are recorded privately by secret ballot. Votes from the Jury Committee and Online Jury Voting Committee are then collected, compiled, counted and calculated by an independent audit company. Individual votes and the precise voting results remain confidential.
These safeguards allow jurors to exercise their professional judgement while limiting the potential influence of individual or commercial interests on the outcome.
The jury brings considerable professional knowledge and market experience to the process, but entrants should not assume that every juror knows every detail of a particular development, transaction, company or professional achievement. A well-prepared nomination gives jurors the information necessary to understand the achievement in context and compare it fairly with competing entries.
Rather than relying primarily on promotional language, a submission should clearly identify the achievement, provide relevant evidence and results, explain its significance and demonstrate its relevance to the category. The clearer and more complete the evidence presented, the better equipped jurors are to make an informed comparison between nominations.
Ultimately, there is no automatic formula that determines a CIJ Awards Romania winner. The process combines submitted evidence with the professional knowledge and judgement of experienced people working across the real estate industry. Those decisions are brought together through two separately and independently voting jury groups, weighted at 61% and 39%, before the final results are independently calculated.
Winning therefore reflects more than the underlying quality of a project, company, transaction or professional achievement. It means that, among the nominations competing in that category and based on the information available during the judging process, the entry secured the strongest combined voting result.
Equally, not winning does not diminish the achievement behind a strong nomination. In highly competitive categories, several candidates may be worthy of recognition, and the final result may come down to relatively small differences between them.
For the CIJ Awards Romania 2026, nominations remain open until 30 September 2026, with the jury and voting process taking place in November. The winners will remain confidential until they are announced at the 19th CIJ Awards Romania on 3 December 2026 at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bucharest.
For nominees, the objective is therefore not simply to enter a successful project, company, transaction or professional achievement. It is to give the jury clear and relevant evidence of what was achieved, why it matters and what distinguishes the nomination from the other strong candidates competing within its category.
