Rules and Guidelines

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY - PURCHASING ANY GOODS OR SERVICES WILL NOT INCREASE THE ODDS OF WINNING

The Blackboard Catalyst Awards (the "Program") is a customer recognition program that recognizes innovation and excellence in Blackboard's global customer community. For purposes of these Rules, the selected winners are referred to as "Award Winners" or "Winners".

By entering this Program, you agree to these Official Rules ("Official Rules" or "Rules") and the decisions of Blackboard LLC ("Sponsor" or "Blackboard"), which are final and binding in all respects.

1. Eligibility

Who can participate? The Catalyst Awards Program is open to active licensed customers of Blackboard software platforms from all regions. Higher Education, K-12, Business, and Government institutions or organizations are eligible to participate. This Program is voided where it is expressly prohibited by applicable law.

Employees and board members of Blackboard and any Blackboard partners or resellers, and all of their respective parents, affiliated and subsidiary companies, advertising and promotion agencies, and legal advisors, and members of their immediate family or members of the same households of such employees or directors are not eligible for the Program.

Submissions: Nominations must be related to the use of Blackboard solutions in a customer institution or organization in the 2025 calendar year. Nominations not representing an institution, not related to the use of a Blackboard product or solution offering, or not executed during the 2025 calendar year do not qualify.

2. Entry Categories

Award Winners will be recognized across eight categories:

• Assessment & Institutional Effectiveness: This award recognizes customers who have strengthened their assessment practices and driven meaningful behavioral change through the use of Blackboard's Institutional Effectiveness solutions. These institutions elevate quality, foster collaboration, and use assessment insights to guide continuous improvement.
• Blackboard Adoption & Engagement: This award honors system administrators who lead institution-wide adoption of Blackboard through clear strategy, proactive support, and a focus on continuous improvement. These leaders empower faculty, streamline onboarding, and ensure consistent, high-quality use of Blackboard to elevate teaching and learning.
• Ethical AI Leadership: This award recognizes leaders who model responsible, transparent, and inclusive AI use within Blackboard. These institutions embed ethical safeguards into their AI strategy, promote trust, and ensure equitable outcomes for all stakeholders.
• Government Learning Transformation: This award recognizes government organizations that deliver high-quality training and workforce development through Blackboard. These institutions use innovative instructional design, scalable digital learning, and strong technology integration to strengthen readiness, performance, and long-term growth.
• Innovation in Accessibility: This award honors institutions that use Blackboard and/or Ally to create more accessible and inclusive learning experiences across their campuses. Their initiatives improve usability, remove barriers, and strengthen outcomes for all learners.
• Leading Change: This award recognizes institutions that use Blackboard to drive transformational change on campus and across the wider education community. These institutions set new standards in innovation, collaboration, and scalable best practices.
• Teaching Excellence: This award recognizes instructors who set the standard for high-quality teaching within Blackboard. These educators apply strong pedagogy, intentional design, and dynamic digital practices to create engaging and inclusive learning environments.
• Training & Professional Development: This award honors institutions and corporations that use Blackboard to elevate training and development for educators and staff. Their programs strengthen skills, support technology adoption, and foster organizational growth.

Each category has its own set of award criteria that is used to evaluate the merits of each nomination. The complete category details and criteria are published on the Catalyst Awards website.

3. Nomination Period

Nominations will be open from February 16, 2026, at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time (ET), to March 30, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time (PT). This date is final, and no extensions will be provided.

4. Nomination Process

Type of nominations: You may nominate yourself, a colleague, or a team.

Submissions Portal: All nominations must be submitted through the Submissions Portal. The link to the portal will be included on the Catalyst Awards website. Nominations sent via email or other channels will not be considered.

How to submit: Submissions must be completed in English. To submit a nomination, entrants should visit the Catalyst Awards website, select the category that applies to the initiative, review the sample submission form, and register on the submissions portal to start the process.

Once the account is created, entrants will receive detailed instructions on how to create and fill out the nomination form. After completing all the required information, the form must be fully submitted to finish the process. Forms in "draft" status will not be considered.

Number of nominations: Entrants can submit more than one nomination. An individual or team can also be nominated more than once for different initiatives.

Duplicated Submissions: An initiative can only be submitted in one category. Duplicated submissions will be disqualified from each category it was submitted to.

Official Nominees: After all submissions are reviewed and validated by the Catalyst Awards Team, all eligible nominees will be notified via email and included in the official list that will be published on the Catalyst Awards website.

5. Evaluation Process

Eligible submissions will be evaluated by an internal cross-functional panel of judges who have significant experience and expertise in each category area. Winners will be selected based on the category criteria, level of innovation, and the Catalyst Awards Rubric defined by Blackboard. Entrants can find more detailed information about the evaluation process on the Catalyst Awards website.

Blackboard shall be the sole judge and all decisions by Blackboard are final and not subject to inquiry or reconsideration. Feedback on submissions is not provided.

6. Award Winners

Number of Winners: There could be multiple winners per category, and a nominee and/or institution can win more than one award.

Winner Announcement: Winners and non-winners of the Catalyst Awards will be notified via email by the end of May, 2026 and officially announced in a press release no later than June 29, 2026. They will also be published on our corporate channels, including, without limitation, the Community Site, Blackboard's social media accounts, and the Catalyst Winners Page.

Winner Recognition: Once winners have been officially announced, our communications team will share a press kit with the winners' communications offices that can be used to help promote their awards.

Winners will be recognized and presented with their awards at the Building Blackboard Together user conference that will take place in July 2026. All travel and costs related to the Winners' attendance at the Blackboard user conference shall be the sole responsibility of each Winner.

Awards Ceremony: Winners will be recognized in a special ceremony at the user conference where they will receive a Catalyst Awards trophy. If a winner is not able to attend, the award will be shipped to them following the conference. If the conference cannot be held in person or is canceled for any reason, the ceremony will be virtual, and awards will be sent directly to the Winners.

7. Promotion:

The Winner and their stories will be promoted on Blackboard websites and/or in various promotional materials selected by Blackboard. This includes videos, blogs, and assets submitted by customers as part of the program, as well as photos and videos from the awards ceremony and other Winners' recognition events.

By entering, entrants and Award Winners state that they are authorized to submit the respective materials in their Nominations due to you being the rightful claimant or the legal representative for all submitted material, and that they consent to the use of their names, voices, pictures, and likenesses for advertising and promotional purposes related to this program or to any Blackboard product, in any medium throughout the world without any time limit or additional compensation, unless prohibited by law.

CONSUMER DISCLOSURE

By entering this Program, entrants and Award Winners: (1) agree to be bound by these Official Rules; and (2) agree to release Blackboard and its subsidiaries, affiliates, divisions, advertising and promotion, fulfillment and/or judging agencies, related entities from any and all liability for any loss, harm, damages, costs or expenses, including, without limitation, property damages, personal injury and/or death arising out of participating in this Program, or the acceptance, possession, use or misuse of any prize and/or claims based on publicity rights, defamation or invasion of privacy and merchandise delivery, which may be sustained in connection with the submissions they provided for the Program.

Blackboard reserves the right to prohibit any entrant from participating in the Program if, in its sole discretion, Blackboard believes such entrant to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Program, or if such entrant repeatedly shows a disregard for, or attempts to, circumvent these Rules, or acts: (a) in a manner that Blackboard determines to be not fair or equitable; (b) with an intent to annoy, threaten, or harass any other entrant; or (c) in any other manner disruptive to the Program. Any failure by the Sponsor to enforce any of these Rules shall not constitute a waiver of such Rules.

Blackboard assumes no responsibility for any lost, late, incomplete, inaccurate, stolen, misdirected, illegible, or altered entries.

Blackboard assumes no responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communications line failure, theft or destruction of or unauthorized access to Program entries or entry forms, or alteration of entries or entry forms. Blackboard is not responsible for any problems with or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, computer online systems, servers or providers, computer equipment, software, failure of any e-mail or mailed-in entry to be received on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any website, or any combination thereof, including any injury or damage to participants' or any other persons' computers related to or resulting from participation or downloading any materials in this Program.

Any attempt by any person to deliberately damage any website or undermine the legitimate operation of the Program may be a violation of criminal and civil laws. Should such an attempt be made, Blackboard reserves the right to seek damages from any such person to the fullest extent permitted by law.

If the program cannot be executed as planned, due to force majeure or any other extraordinary circumstances outside the control of the Sponsor, the Sponsor can make the decision to cancel, modify, or reschedule it at their discretion.

Governing Law: The Program is governed by the laws of the United States with venue in Washington, D.C., and all claims must be resolved under State of New York law without regard to choice of law rules, first by mediation, and then by arbitration, in the District of Columbia, under the rules of the American Arbitration Association.

Permission to reprint this form is granted to educational institutions and academic researchers provided that the Rules are reprinted in their entirety and without modification. Non-academic use requires express written permission of Blackboard.

Questions: If you have any questions related to the Program, please contact us at CatalystAwards@anthology.com.