Excellence in Railway Publications Awards


14 October 2025

Purpose

The International Union of Railways (UIC) is pleased to announce the launch of the 5th edition of the competition which celebrates excellence in Railway publications.

Following on from the success of previous events, the scope is extended to a wider range of documents.

The aim is to support and promote excellence in user-friendly, business-sensitive publications that support the efficiency of railway operations. This can include technical specifications and/or requirements, guidelines and operational solutions whether they are published as an IRS or as a standalone document.

Target and Eligibility

The awards are open to a wide range of documents that will have been produced as a result of work undertaken:

  • In UIC Forums and Platforms and their Working groups
  • Through working with external partners
  • As part of a project that leads to an evolution of the railway system

The people involved can be:

  • UIC members
  • Stakeholders from partner organisations

The participants must of course be involved in the development of the relevant publication(s)

Ceremony

If a publication is selected, an official invitation will be sent to the stakeholders responsible for the document inviting them to attend the award ceremony. This will be held on 14th October 2025 at UIC HQ.
The winner in each category will be represented by the Leader of the working group or a person (or persons) nominated by the group which developed the document.
The event is open to all members of working groups and consortia who have contributed to the development work, winners or not.
Each selected winner will have be invited, should they so wish, to make a brief presentation (3 minutes) which explains the scope of the publication and to thank the team etc…

Categories

  • Candidate entries must be in one of the 3 following categories.
  • Specifications and/or requirements whether they are published as an IRS or as a standalone document
  • Guidelines whether they are published as an IRS or as a standalone document
  • IRSs
    To be considered for an award, candidate entries must have been published by the UIC between
    July 2024 and June 2025

Criteria

Proficiently developed

  • For IRS this means conformity with the M2 guidelines on IRS production
  • Respect of the use of ‘shall/should’For other documents, that they are well structured and are user-friendly
  • The text is written in a concise and clear manner
  • Recognition of the work undertaken by the experts & their willing involvement
  • Regional inclusiveness

    Interfaces with External organisations

  • Text has been used by an external body as a sectoral reference
  • Used in regulatory documentation (TSI…) or in ISO/EN standards
  • Working with external organisations (ISO, IEC, CEN, CENELEC, ETSI, OSJD…) – exemplary cooperation and end product

    Innovative and with value-added

  • New item for the sector
  • No other published specification, guideline or solution for this item
  • Sector fully represented (opened to partners)
  • Adapted to the evolution of the railway sector (socially, technically, operationally…)

    Business-oriented

  • Financial and/or time/organisational efficiency
  • Attractive (marketing) title
  • The level of importance for railway operations
  • Widely used (statistics of downloads and/or sales)

Judging Panel (Jury)

The judging panel will consider all candidate publications received by the due date and will assess them against the above criterion.
It will be composed of:

  • Senior members of the UIC team
  • Members of the UIC’s Standardisation Platform

The winning entry in each category will be contacted once the selection process has been concluded. This will take place on or near 13th September 2025.

How to submit your entry and deadline

Entries should be submitted by fully completing the form here:

Please specify the type of document(s) you wish to submit (Required)
Please specify the category(ies) (Required)
Attendance on 14 October 2025 (Required)

This can be changed later by mail to standardisation@uic.org before 3 October 2025.

UIC GDPR Policy (Required)


All candidate entries must have been received no later than 27th June 2025.
Any entries received after this date will regrettably not be considered.

Prizes

There are no financial awards made, however, symbolically participants who will attend the ceremony in person will receive a winner’s certificate.
Any additional certificate could be provided under request.

Publicising the winners

The winning team and their publication will be highlighted by:

  • An article in the UIC’s weekly online “eNews”
  • Official email of recognition and achievement to the company of each person involved.
  • A spotlight item on the UIC website

Timetable

  • April 2025
    Launch of the call for entries was made.
  • From April 2025 to 27th June 2025
    Contributions can be submitted at any time within this period
  • Winners notified on or before 15th September
  • 30th September
    Closing date for registrations for the Awards Ceremony
  • 14th October
    Date of the ceremony. Planned at UIC Headquarters starting at 12h00 (to facilitate global time zones).

Registration

Further information

Should you need any further information, please send an email with your question to standardisation at uic.org

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Friday 10 March 2023