As was the case in 2025, the 2026 Top Lab and Top Organization winners were determined based on the highest Challenge Score for each Award Category. Winners of Honorable Mentions were selected either by standout energy savings estimates or a combination of that and impressive Challenge Score. Top Organization Winners will be recognized at the I2SL Annual Conference, taking place September 13-16 in Boston, Massachusetts. Top Lab Winners will be celebrated during a virtual awards ceremony that will take place in early October. 

Congratulations to the winners and to all who took part in making this year’s Freezer Challenge a success! For those interested, final Challenge Scores and energy savings estimates can be viewed on the Leaderboards within the Freezer Challenge platform (you must log in again to view).

2026 award winners

Note: Winning Streak Awards are given to the previous year’s Top Organizations and Labs who would have won a second year in a row for 2026.

Biotech/pharmaceutical sector winners

• Top Organization Award: Amgen Inc, – 5,314 kWh/day saved (Global Participation)
• Winning Streak Award: AstraZeneca – 5,244 kWh/day saved (Global Participation)
• Large Lab Award​: RTP, IQVIA Laboratories – 532 kWh/day saved (United States)
• Medium Lab Award: Madison Sample Management, Labcorp – 316 kWh/day saved (United States)
• Medium Lab Winning Streak Award: Shanghai/Specimen Management, Labcorp – 279 kWh/day saved (China)
• Small Lab Award: CAM – Research – BDD Lab – 6A-4, Biogen – 264 kWh/day saved (United States)
• Small Lab Winning Streak Award: Regional HBS Centre Gothenburg Lab, AstraZeneca – 160 kWh/day saved (Sweden)
• Biorepository Award: Biorepository US, Labcorp – 5,427 kWh/day saved (United States)

Academic sector winners

• Top Organization Award: The Institute of Cancer Research – 1,406 kWh/day saved (United Kingdom)
• Large Lab Award​: Retrovirus Lab, John Hopkins University University – 231 kWh/day saved (United States)
• Medium Lab Award: Social, Genetic and Development Psychiatry (SGDP), King’s College London – 121 kWh/day saved (United Kingdom)
• Small Lab Award: Rule’s Lab, John Hopkins University – 57 kWh/day saved (United States)
• Small Lab Winning Streak Award: Subramaniam Lab, University of Alabama – 260 kWh/day saved (United States)
• Biorepository Award: Biobanc HUB-ICO-IDIBELL, Institut d’Investigació Biomèdica de Bellvitge (IDIBELL) – 397 kWh/day (Spain)

Hospital/clinical/other winners

• Top Organization Award: Siemens Healthineers – 735 kWh/day saved (Canada, Ireland, United States)
• Winning Streak Award: Boston Children’s Hospital – 826 kWh/day saved (United States)
• Large Lab Award​: Blackrock Health, Galway Clinic – 36 kWh/day (Ireland)
• Medium Lab Award: CSP Lab, University Health Network – 49 kWh/day saved (Canada)
• Small Lab Award: Puder Lab, Boston Children’s Hospital – 18 kWh/day (United States)
• Small Lab Winning Streak Award: CRB/CIC1403 Lab, CHU de Lille – 120 kWh/day saved (France)
• Biorepository Award: Biopathology Center, Nationwide Children’s Abigail Wexner Research Institute – 362 kWh/day saved (United States)

Government sector winners

• Top Organization Award:​ Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute – 144 kWh/day (Panama) 
• Winning Streak Award: Cefas – 189 kWh/day saved (United Kingdom)
• Large Lab Award​: Medicines Discovery Catapult – 127 kWh/day saved (United Kingdom)
• Medium Lab Award: EURL, IVD 1, Paul-Ehrlich-Institut –313 kWh/day saved (Germany)
• Small Lab Award: MFF Weymouth, Cefas – 69 kWh/day saved (United Kingdom)
• Biorepository Award: Biobank, Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine– 648kWh/day saved (Gambia)

Honorable Mentions

Organizations (all industries):

• Abbvie – 2722 kWh/day (United States and Germany) – winning for a new record energy savings high by this organization and for being ‘Maintenance Masters’
• University of Georgia – 920 kWh/day saved (United States) – winning for most scoresheets submitted of any organization and exceeding their energy savings from 2025 
  
• Imperial College London – 1518 kWh/day saved (United Kingdom) – winning for most labs engaged of any organization and exceeding their energy savings from 2025 
  
• King’s College London – 2587 kWh/day saved (United Kingdom) – winning for vast energy savings and large number of labs engaged 
  
• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center – 1438 kWh/day (United States) – winning for saving the most energy of any clinical organization 

Labs (all industries):

• SWT R&D, Sanofi – 1939 kWh/day (United States) – winning for their adoption of –70 C for ULT freezers and extreme sample cleanout prowess 
• Geneva Site, Labcorp – 2675 kWh/day saved (Switzerland) – winning for doing the most preventative maintenance actions of any lab team for the Freezer Challenge 
• Specimen Management Indianapolis, Labcorp – 4819 kWh/day (United States) – winning for testing and adoption of ambient sample storage 
• JH Biobank, Johns Hopkins University (United States) – winning for flexible liquid nitrogen upgrades