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FAQs

Frequently asked questions

Nominated, Shortlisted, and Winning Deals

I submitted a deal as a news item – why is it not nominated for the Deal of the Year?

As outlined in our submission guidelines announced here when we put up the open call back in September 2025: 
 
  • Simply because CEE Legal Matters Reported on a deal does not mean it will automatically be considered.
  • Only deals that are formally submitted will be considered, and all submissions must be received by CEE Legal Matters on or before January 9, 2026 (or November 21, 2025, for submission feedback). 

My firm worked on one of the shortlisted deals but is not included in the list of firms. What can I do?

Simply drop us an email outlining your role in the relevant deal at radu.cotarcea@ceelm.com and we’ll take it from there on a case by case basis. 

Can I still submit a deal? How?

Unfortunately the deadline was January 9. At this stage, we already announced all the nominated (i.e. submitted) deals here and the first round of votes was concluded with the shortlisted deals being announced here. 

I never received an invite to submit a deal – can you please be flexible?

Even if we were to be flexible on the deadline (which, please note, we never are for this exercise to avoid playing favorites), and expose ourselves to a world of complains for incorporating additional deals after we announced the full list, all juror votes are in for round 1 and the shortlisted deals have been announced here. Even if we were to accept other submissions, they simply cannot be included in the voting process on top of all those deals considered and excluded in the shortlisting process. 

We are a long-term partner of/are considering subscribing to CEELM – can you please be flexible?

See above.

How can I know when submissions open again?

We are really sorry you missed the open call – we’ve truly blasted it repeatedly across our platforms. We encourage you to either: 

When will the winners be announced?

Winners are announced at the DOTY Awards Banquet – this year scheduled for May 27 in Bucharest. You can learn more about the gala and register here.