Categories & criteria

Criteria in detail

• Entries for the global manager categories are open to submissions for qualifying managers (they must have a global presence across the US, Europe and Asia, with a trading team in Europe, and must trade global markets) from 1 January 2026 through the EuroHedge Awards portal and official entry form.
• Nominations for the individual strategy categories are based on 12-month performance numbers from January 2025 to the end of December 2025.
• Nominations for the Long-Term Performance awards are based on a five-year period from January 2021 to December 2025. There are also awards for New Fund of the Year – covering those funds that were launched between July 2024 and June 2025, with a trading history of between seven and 18 months.
• Only master shareclasses will be considered for the Awards.
• In addition, there are awards for the Management Firm of the Year – based on the one-year performance across a firm’s various funds – and for the overall Fund of the Year.
• For the one-year award categories, the minimum fund asset level required to qualify for nominations is $100m at the end of December 2025.
• For the New Fund and Emerging Manager & Smaller Fund awards, the minimum asset threshold is set at a lower level, while the minimum asset level for the Long-Term Performance awards is $500m
• The winners are those funds which achieve the highest returns among the nominated funds – so long as they are also within 25% of the best Sharpe ratios within their nominated peer groups.
• To qualify for nominations, funds must achieve annualised returns higher than the median returns for their peer groups – and they must also be within 10% of their high-water marks that were set before the start of the performance period under review.
• For the Long-Term Performance, New Fund, Emerging Manager & Smaller Fund, UCITS, Management Firm and Fund of the Year awards – all of which include funds and firms operating across different strategy areas – nominees and winners are judged on additional comparative criteria as well as absolute returns and Sharpe ratios.
• For the Fund of the Year awards, we will consider the qualifying winners in other categories – as well as other funds with exceptional performance which may have missed out on individual strategy awards by being narrowly outside the range on Sharpe Ratio.
• Nominees and winners are determined objectively, using a combination of Sharpe ratios and absolute returns. This quantitative approach makes us the only awards to reflect the two primary aims of hedge funds - to manage volatility and to deliver positive returns for investors.
• To be included in the nomination process, funds must report performance to the With Intelligence hedge fund database. All funds that wish to be considered for the final round of nominations must have submitted December performance data by Monday 12 January 2026. If you are adding a new fund, please submit your profile and historical performance data by Friday 19 December 2025.
• With Intelligence reserves the right to request additional information from funds in relation to their performance as part of the nomination process and winner determination.
• With Intelligence reserves the right to remove any funds deemed inappropriate.