The countdown is real. In six days, the Performance Excellence Award 2026 will have its three winners — and for the CEOs sitting at the top of the leaderboard right now, the stakes couldn't be higher.

This isn't just about a trophy. The Performance Excellence Award evaluates CEOs on something genuinely difficult to fake: the cumulative points earned by verifying concrete performance achievements - their own, or those of the companies they lead — over the past year. No spin, no optics. Just results, measured and confirmed. That's precisely why, among those who follow the CEO Rankings closely, the PEA carries a weight that often eclipses the CEO of the Year title itself. Winning it is a statement. Not winning it when you were expected to, is equally loud.

1st place		+5,000 points
2nd place		+2,500 points
3rd place		+2,000 points

The official announcement of the three PEA 2026 winners will take place on Friday, April 17, 2026, at 17:00 GMT.

Each winner receives an exclusive CEO Rankings award - and, crucially, a package of additional points that will feed directly into the CEO of the Year race, reshuffling a leaderboard that is anything but settled.

Six days. Three spots. One question worth watching.