Recognition matters most when it reflects the quality of the work behind it.
In 2026, Upside Learning Solutions, a division of MITR Learning & Media, won 13 Brandon Hall Group™ HCM Excellence Awards®, including four Gold, seven Silver, and two Bronze awards across Learning and Development, Sales Performance, and Talent Acquisition.
The recognized work spans custom content, competency and skill development, innovative learning programs, sales training, games and simulations, compliance training, extended enterprise learning, and new hire onboarding.
Taken together, these awards highlight several priorities for effective enterprise learning: specific business needs, relevant learner experiences, opportunities to apply skills, and learning solutions designed around context.
What the 13 Awards Recognize
The 13 awards cover a broad range of learning, sales performance, and talent development needs.
Custom Content for Specific Learning Needs
Several of the recognized entries received awards for Best Custom Content.
Custom content allows learning experiences to be designed around an organization’s specific context, rather than relying on generic information. That can include organizational processes, terminology, systems, roles, audiences, and business requirements.
The 2026 recognition includes Gold and Silver awards in the Best Custom Content category for initiatives associated with Standard Chartered Bank, The World Bank Group, and IBA.
The recognition highlights the continued role of customized learning when organizations need learning experiences that are closely aligned with their specific environments.
Building Competencies and Skills
Two of the recognized entries received awards for Best Competencies and Skill Development.
Skills-focused learning starts with a different question from traditional course development. Instead of asking only what information employees need to know, it asks what they need to be able to do.
That distinction matters when organizations are developing capabilities for specific roles or changing business requirements.
The recognized initiatives include GIL associated with The World Bank Group and Skill Enablement associated with Riyadh Air.
Using Simulations and Games to Create Practice Opportunities
One of the Gold awards recognized the Best Use of Games or Simulations for Learning for the Megatrend Playbook, associated with Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
Simulations and games can give learners opportunities to engage with situations rather than simply read about them. They can introduce decisions, scenarios, challenges, and consequences that encourage learners to apply concepts in a more active setting.
This is particularly relevant when the goal is to support application and practice, rather than knowledge acquisition alone.
The same initiative was also recognized with a Gold award for Best Unique or Innovative Sales Training Program, highlighting how experiential learning approaches can be applied to sales performance.
Designing Learning Around Real Organizational Context
The recognized programs cover different audiences and requirements, from employees developing competencies to new hires preparing for role-specific responsibilities and customers engaging with extended enterprise learning.
This range demonstrates why learning design cannot rely on a single format.
A compliance requirement may call for a different experience from a sales enablement need. A new hire may require structured role-specific onboarding, while a customer audience may need focused product or service learning.
Effective learning design starts with understanding the business need, audience, objectives, and context before determining the right approach.
This is also reflected in the Brandon Hall Group HCM Excellence Awards evaluation process, in which each submission is reviewed by an independent panel of Brandon Hall Group analysts, industry experts, and experienced practitioners against criteria including business need, program design, innovation, adoption, and organizational impact.
Supporting Different Stages of the Learning Journey
The 13 awards also include recognition across different points in the employee and extended enterprise learning journey.
The awards include:
- Best New Hire Onboarding Program for Role Specific Onboarding, associated with AstraZeneca
- Best Extended Enterprise Learning Program for Hospitality (Customer Training), associated with Riyadh Air
- Best Compliance Training for Cyber Security Campaigning, associated with Riyadh Air
- Best Unique or Innovative Learning and Development Program for Skill Enablement, associated with Riyadh Air
- Best Unique or Innovative Learning and Development Program for PIU, associated with The World Bank Group
Together, these categories illustrate how learning can support different audiences, objectives, and moments of need.
Innovation in Learning Is About the Learning Experience
Innovation does not necessarily mean using the newest technology.
It can involve rethinking how a learning challenge is approached, creating a more relevant experience, introducing opportunities for practice, using a different delivery format, or designing learning around the decisions people need to make in their roles.
The 2026 awards include recognition for Best Unique or Innovative Learning and Development Program and Best Unique or Innovative Sales Training Program.
That distinction is important. Technology can enable new learning experiences, but innovation starts with identifying a better way to address the learning or performance need.
Why Independent Recognition Matters
The Brandon Hall Group HCM Excellence Awards have recognized organizations shaping the future of Human Capital Management for more than 30 years. The program emphasizes innovation, thoughtful execution, and measurable results.
For Upside Learning, receiving 13 awards across Learning and Development, Sales Performance, and Talent Acquisition recognizes a diverse body of learning work rather than a single type of solution.
The recognition includes work associated with The World Bank Group, Riyadh Air, Standard Chartered Bank, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IBA, and AstraZeneca.
About Upside Learning
Upside Learning Solutions, a division of MITR Learning & Media, is an award-winning provider of enterprise eLearning and corporate training solutions. Founded in 2004, Upside Learning helps organizations design, build, and scale learning experiences aligned with business goals, roles, and real-world performance needs.
Its expertise spans custom eLearning, workforce skilling, AI-powered learning solutions, managed learning services, mobile learning, microlearning, performance support, simulations, games and gamification, video and animation, scenario-based learning, and other technology-enabled learning solutions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Upside Learning won 13 Brandon Hall Group HCM Excellence Awards® in 2026: four Gold, seven Silver, and two Bronze awards across Learning and Development, Sales Performance, and Talent Acquisition.
The recognized work spans custom content, competency and skill development, innovative learning programs, sales training, games and simulations, compliance training, extended enterprise learning, and new hire onboarding.
The Brandon Hall Group HCM Excellence Awards recognize organizations for excellence and innovation in Human Capital Management. The program has recognized HCM excellence for more than 30 years and uses independent evaluation of award submissions.
Submissions are evaluated by an independent panel of Brandon Hall Group analysts, industry experts, and experienced practitioners using criteria that assess business need, program design, innovation, adoption, and organizational impact.
Upside Learning provides enterprise eLearning and corporate training solutions across areas including custom eLearning, workforce skilling, AI-powered learning, managed learning services, mobile learning, microlearning, simulations, gamification, performance support, video and animation, and scenario-based learning.
