Over two decades of Step Two’s Intranet & Digital Workplace Awards we’ve celebrated well nearly 250 exceptional and inspiring digital projects from all over the world. We’ve seen brilliant intranets, employee portals, mobile apps, digital workplace projects, social networks, knowledge management initiatives, adoption-focused roll-outs, business solutions, comms campaigns, engagement initiatives, Microsoft 365 launches, AI programmes and everything in between! Each year throws up some surprises and raises the bar on what is being achieved in the intranet and digital employee experience space.

I’ve been lucky to manage the Awards for fifteen of those years, starting out when we were still called the Intranet Innovation Awards. Many winners stick in my mind, but some in particular leave an impression. When I was asked to create an article featuring some of my favourite winners from the Awards, it was a real challenge to reduce to list, but here are five winners that were either ground-breaking at the time, or particularly resonated with me.

2015: Robin Partington & Partners’ remarkable custom digital workplace

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Over the years we’ve had a few highly customised environments that have been entered into the Awards, but this entry from UK architectural practice Robin Partington & Partners felt unique; a completely custom and largely browser-based digital workplace environment and intranet covering core processes and activities from project management to financial management to even HR & payroll. It had evolved over time and had grown to be the true “operating system” for the business.

Because the digital workplace covered some fundamental systems, the impact was very high and was completely wrapped around the way the company worked. Custom environments have advantages and disadvantages, but this still stuck in my mind as one of the most ambitious integrated digital workplace environments I have seen.

2018: Liberty Mutual’s ground-breaking, DEX-focused digital assistant

Screenshot remains the copyright of the entrant, and may not be reproduced without written permission.

By 2018 the promise of an intranet that supported digital employee experience by allowing users to transact with multiple systems from one single interface had only ever been partially achieved and never done that convincingly. But US financial service company Liberty Mutual’s exceptional digital assistant did exactly that, presenting employee tasks requiring action, manager approvals, HR-related data and transactions, IT help desk requests and more all through a single “digital assistant” embedded into the intranet.

It was created through a microservices architecture and integrated with multiple systems to a degree rarely seen on other intranets. This innovative entry wowed the judges and won our Platinum Award; Liberty Mutual even spun it out as a product and made it commercially available.

2019: Stagecoach’s high impact mobile app for frontline staff

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In the last five years or so mobile apps targeted at frontline employees have got better and better, but at the time this 2019 entry from UK bus company Stagecoach felt like a real breakthrough in frontline communications and productivity, with excellent levels of adoption and tangible process improvement. Stagecoach rolled out the Blink app to 20,000 employees, most of whom worked in bus depots, allowing them to view important operational data, message and communicate with each other, report accident or traffic hotspots, and more, all from their own personal devices.

The app not only eliminated a number of paper-based processes and made it easier to report safety concerns and issues, but even reduced the number of buses leaving the depot late because drivers were no longer wasting time seeking information from noticeboards or supervisors – they were looking things up on their smartphones.

2023: MITRE Corporation’s serial intranet innovation

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The MITRE Corporation is a federally-funded research organisation that works across the US government and in partnership with industry to tackle various challenges. MITRE’s intranet is unique for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is one of the longest running intranets in the world, having consistently evolved since the mid-nineties to serve the unique needs of MITRE’s employees. Secondly, the intranet is a heavily customised environment with multiple integrated elements built on strong KM foundations. Thirdly, the team behind the intranet have continued to show a spirit of experimentation and innovation over the years, aligning with MITRE’s own mission-led culture.

It’s perhaps for this reason that MITRE has won more Intranet & Digital Workplace Awards than any other organisation, with this great research portal infused with AI-powered search winning in 2023 being their fourth award.  MITRE are true intranet pioneers.

2024: Duke Energy’s excellent intranet stewardship and evolution

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In 2024 US energy supplier Duke Energy won the Platinum Award for their excellent intranet, The Portal, which has been supporting employees since 2001. What stood out for the judges is the consistently strong execution across multiple aspects of how the intranet is managed. Robust governance, strong design, smart launch methodologies, model approaches to testing, valuable content,  good employee engagement features and continual improvement have all contributed to The Portal’s success..

The result is that the intranet has continued to have strong levels of adoption and delivered sustainable value for decades. The Portal is an inspiring example of the value an intranet can being with the right governance, adequate budget, support from leadership and a talented and passionate intranet team.

Could you be a winner in 2026?

We’ve seen many great intranets and digital workplaces over the years, and there are still more to come. Could you be among the winners for 2026? There’s still time to enter, although you’ll need to act soon as we close for submissions on April 21 2026. However, if you are coming late to this, we can offer an extension of a few days by prior arrangement to a limited number of submissions. Entry is free with no associated costs.