# A nomination is stuck waiting for approval

> Nominations wait until an approver acts, with no time limit. Find out who it's waiting for, then remind them, have them hand over, or check the error they get when they try.

- Product: Recognition › Awards and quotas
- Who can do this: Super admins and admins with manage awards
- Plan: Recognition
- Where: Admin dashboard, Vantage Circle web app
- Last checked: 15 Oct 2026
- Web page: https://www.vantagecircle.com/en/help/recognition/awards-and-quotas/a-nomination-is-stuck-waiting-for-approval/

Nominations don't expire. A nomination waits until its approver approves or declines it, so a stuck one almost always means the approver hasn't acted or can't.

## Find out who it's waiting for

The **Award Nomination Status Report** lists award nominations and their status. See [Recognition results and reports](/en/help/recognition/recognition-results-and-reports/) for how to download it.

For an award with two approvals, check which level it's at. The second approver only sees it once the first has approved.

## Then fix the cause

**The approver hasn't seen it.** Ask them to open **To-Do List → My Approval** on the employee site, where it's under **Pending Approvals**. If they're away, they can let someone approve on their behalf. See [Lead your team](/en/help/recognition/lead-your-team/).

**The approver gets an error when they approve.** The message tells you what's missing:

- "Insufficient budget for ->>" followed by names: the budget in those people's countries is too low. Add budget, then ask them to try again. See [Budgets](/en/help/rewards-hub/budgets/).
- "No budget holder found!": nobody holds a budget the points can come from.
- "Sorry, you do not have sufficient award quota!": the approver has used their award quota. Give them more slots. See [Set award quotas](/en/help/recognition/awards-and-quotas/set-award-quotas/).
- "Next level approver not found or not registered.": nobody can be found for the second level, or that person hasn't signed up. If the level uses a reporting manager, check that one is set in the employee's record and has signed up. See [Employees and departments](/en/help/company-admin/employees-and-departments/).
- "Please add a comment before approving.": your company asks approvers for a comment. They need to add one.

**The approver has left.** There's no screen in the admin dashboard to move a pending nomination to someone else. A super admin may be able to act on it (see below). Otherwise, contact Vantage Circle.

## If your company has automatic declines

Vantage Circle can set up your company so that nominations still waiting at the first level are declined after a set number of days. The reason reads, for example, "Auto Declined after 30 days". If you're not sure whether this applies to you, contact Vantage Circle.

## Super admins

If your company lets super admins approve on others' behalf, super admins see every pending nomination in **My Approval** and can approve it themselves.