--- title: "2025 Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards: What's New & How to Prepare" description: Criteria for the 2025 Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards was released. Nominations open June 18 - learn what's new & start preparing your winning story. image: https://orange-bridge.com/hubfs/MP%20blog%201-2.png --- [Skip to content](https://orange-bridge.com/latest-ai-data-trends/2025-microsoft-partner-of-the-year-awards-whats-new-how-to-prepare#main-content) This is a search field with an auto-suggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. 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This extended timeline offers Microsoft Partners a valuable opportunity to develop compelling submissions that demonstrate their innovations and successes. Whether you’re a returning winner or aiming for global recognition for the first time, now is the time to start acting. The competition is global, the categories are expanding, and Microsoft is increasingly focused on customer impact, AI innovation, and cross-cloud excellence.  **Nominations close July 18th,** which means waiting until June to start creating case studies and preparing your submissions could leave you scrambling. Many participants are already acting on award strategies and preparing formal submissions to seize an early mover advantage. ### Why Early Movers Win The [best award submissions don’t happen overnight](https://orange-bridge.com/latest-ai-data-trends/why-tech-firms-should-enter-the-microsoft-partner-of-the-year-awards). They’re the result of strategic storytelling, clear outcomes, and alignment with Microsoft’s evolving priorities, including AI, sustainability, and industry-specific transformation. By preparing now, you can: - Identify your strongest customer success stories. - Map impact to Microsoft’s solution areas and partner pillars. - Gather testimonials, metrics, and technical detail while they’re still fresh. This year, excellence isn’t solely about technology, but about proving your business delivers real-world results and innovation through Microsoft solutions. ### What’s Different in 2025? While we’re seeing many of the familiar, foundational award categories, **2025 introduces the Accelerate Developer Productivity Partner of the Year Award**. This category identifies a new class of partners who are changing how apps are built faster, smarter and more secure using Microsoft and GitHub’s connected developer system. This award recognises innovators who are accelerating their developer productivity using tools such as GitHub Copilot, Azure DevOps and Visual Studio.  Even though Microsoft is opening nominations later this year to align with [Microsoft Ignite](https://ignite.microsoft.com/en-US/home), preparing now is essential. The later timeline means tougher competition and higher expectations, but don’t let that surprise you - plan ahead so that you can stand out. Get ahead of the curve, refine your narrative, engage customers for support, and put yourself in a good position when the submissions go live.  ### Make 2025 Your Microsoft Partner of the Year Award Recognition Year At [Orange Bridge](https://orange-bridge.com/), we specialize in turning complex projects into powerful, award-winning stories. Our expertise has helped partners across Microsoft’s 400,000+ global partner ecosystem become winners and finalists, and gain recognition on a worldwide scale.  As the industry’s leading content developers for the Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards, we merge extensive technology expertise and knowledge of the Microsoft technology ecosystem with a deep understanding of what makes a winning entry. We have achieved an 89% success rate since 2020, earning [14 wins and 6 finalist](https://partner.microsoft.com/sv-se/inspire/awards/winners)positions in 2024 alone.  Orange Bridge offers a [specialized Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards Submission Writing Service](https://orange-bridge.com/microsoft-partner-of-the-year-award-writers) designed to help organizations increase their chances of securing success.  **Nominations close July 18th,** so don’t wait any longer to begin organizing your customer stories and preparing your submission strategy. If you’ve delivered something great with Microsoft this year - let’s talk. [Contact us now](https://orange-bridge.com/contact) to start your 2025 Partner of the Year journey. [**Learn more**](https://orange-bridge.com/orange-bridge-case-studies) **about how we’ve helped numerous organizations earn recognition at the Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards. ** | | --- |   ## Related Marketing & AI Articles Explore our curated selection of AI-based blog posts, covering everything from emerging trends and ethical considerations to practical applications and industry insights. Stay informed and ahead of constantly changing technology landscape. [![Modern business professional holding a glowing cybersecurity icon in her hands](https://orange-bridge.com/hubfs/What%20are%20the%20MSFT%20Security%20Excellence%20Awards.png)](https://orange-bridge.com/latest-ai-data-trends/what-are-the-microsoft-security-excellence-awards) ### [What are the Microsoft Security Excellence Awards?](https://orange-bridge.com/latest-ai-data-trends/what-are-the-microsoft-security-excellence-awards) August 26, 2025 Every year, Microsoft spotlights the organizations that are helping to build a safer digital world through the... [Read more](https://orange-bridge.com/latest-ai-data-trends/what-are-the-microsoft-security-excellence-awards) [![Hands of a modern business professional cupped to hold a digital, stylized cloud](https://orange-bridge.com/hubfs/Guide%20to%20the%20Google%20Cloud%20Partner%20Awards.png)](https://orange-bridge.com/latest-ai-data-trends/google-cloud-partner-of-the-year-awards-impact-criteria-challenges) ### [Google Cloud Partner of the Year Awards: Impact, Criteria & Challenges](https://orange-bridge.com/latest-ai-data-trends/google-cloud-partner-of-the-year-awards-impact-criteria-challenges) September 23, 2025 Every year at Google Cloud Next, a select group of partners worldwide are named Google Cloud Partners of the Year, a... [Read more](https://orange-bridge.com/latest-ai-data-trends/google-cloud-partner-of-the-year-awards-impact-criteria-challenges) [![](https://orange-bridge.com/hubfs/Updates%20to%20Partner%20of%20the%20Year%20Timeline.png)](https://orange-bridge.com/latest-ai-data-trends/2025-microsoft-partner-of-the-year-awards-timeline-get-pushed-back) ### [2025 Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards Timeline Get Pushed Back](https://orange-bridge.com/latest-ai-data-trends/2025-microsoft-partner-of-the-year-awards-timeline-get-pushed-back) January 21, 2025 A quick update for Microsoft Partners: The annual Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards has a new timeline for 2025.... 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