EDUCATE NORTH AWARDS 2018 – OPEN FOR ENTRIES

The prestigious Educate-North Awards 2018 are now open for entries, calling on the North’s world class University and Higher Education sector along with leading Sixth Forms and Further Education institutions to enter now and compete for up to 20 highly sought after trophies.

The 4th Special Dinner and Awards ceremony will be staged at The Hilton Hotel on Deansgate in Manchester on Thursday 26th April 2018 and entry forms are available here.

Launched in 2015 and supported by Prolific North, the Educate-North Awards have rapidly become one of the most hotly contested competitions in education.

A panel of distinguished judges drawn from across the UK and from the worlds of academia, business, enterprise and management unites to determine outstanding winners in categories ranging from Leadership to Business Engagement to The Environmental Industry Award as well as trophies for Social Mobility (assisting students from lower income families), Student Experience and The Students Union Of the Year and Innovation plus The Business School of The Year and an Apprenticeship trophy.

The ‘Academic of The Year’ will be named alongside the winner of the 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award.

The event will open with a special reception followed by a leading keynote speaker and end with an after-event party for the first time.

Most categories are only open to Northern institutions (the ITV regions of Granada, Tyne Tees, Yorkshire and Border excluding Scotland) but now, due to demand from outside the North, two are open to colleges across the United Kingdom.

‘These awards are growing in stature and are becoming very important and highly sought-after. The Judges are seeking out real improvement, superb innovation as well as excellence across a range of genres’ said Professor Sir Cary Cooper CBE, one of the key Academic Advisors to the competition.

‘They allow the North to demonstrate the vital research, teaching and sheer quality which makes the region a fabulous place to study but we also raise the big issues which could threaten, weaken or indeed enhance the standing of an area which has 25% of the country’s academic staff in its universities and some 540,000 students. It’s a major growth area but it needs careful nurturing’.

2017 winners included Liverpool John Moores University which was named University of The Year; Newcastle University for Business Collaboration; The University of York for Innovation, The University of Chester won two awards while Leeds Trinity walked away with The Students Union of The Year Award. St John Rigby College became Sixth Form of The Year and there were celebrations as Salford City College was handed the prize for FE College of The Year. Leeds Beckett University became Research Team of The Year.

Dr John Kennedy CBE, Awards Patron added; ‘Winners celebrated with national poster campaigns, including the gigantic electronic boards at  Euston Station, victors rejoiced with press releases, photo opportunities, interviews in the media and I suspect the odd party or two.’

‘The key factor though is that they maintain the momentum for innovation, quality and I would say value for money for students and investors. The North has a great bedrock and the knowledge sector is a major contributor to GDP, I think these awards help us all to avoid the traps facing us the in future.

A full list of awards plus the criteria and details of the 2017 winners is now available here and in the next few weeks further details of sponsors and two competitions for entrepreneurs will be unveiled.