Published by Alex Rimmer
Published Date 10.10.2023 
The Educate North Awards 2024 will be staged on Thursday 18th April 2024 in Manchester.
The 10th event will bring together the North’s leading institutions and organisations across Higher, Further and Sixth Form sectors to celebrate world class achievements, developments, and success.
It will also see four students or graduates pitch their new business ideas in the unique University Entrepreneurs Grant (UEG). One will walk away with a cash prize and the chance to study at the acclaimed Masood Entrepreneurship Centre at The University of Manchester. The audience will choose the winner in a nerve-wracking competition which has seen winners go on and raise millions of pounds for their nascent ideas.
‘This event marks a wonderful milestone’ said Emeritus Professor Phil Harris, Chairman of the Judges; ‘we launched in 2015 with the ambition of showing the North and the wider world how vibrant, diverse and important the education sector is in the region and to celebrate and encourage breakthrough, innovation and excellence’.
‘2024 will be a superb event and an important one as we enter a further period of change and political uncertainty against a backdrop of a General Election in the UK. But we have inspiring people and organisations that will lead that change and make a difference’.
The 2m listeners to Heart Yorkshire, Smooth North West and Smooth North East will be invited to nominate 3 special award winners for excellence and outstanding achievement in a sector which is never out of the headlines.
‘Our listeners rush to nominate every year and previous winners have shown complete devotion to their school or college and have proved themselves to be superb contributors to education and their communities’ said Mark Lee, CEO of CCUK which owns the three hugely popular stations.
‘We are delighted to open our airwaves and support Educate North and look forward to an event which at times can be breathtaking’.
In 2023, Professor Nicola Curtin of Newcastle University received a standing ovation as she collected ‘The Lifetime Achievement Award’ after helping to develop cancer drugs and donating £865,000 in royalties to assist social mobility and education in the North East of England.
Lancaster was named University of the Year and Birkenhead Sixth Form was voted FE College of the Year. Other winners included Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN), St Vincent’s School for Sensory Impairment, University of York, and Edge Hill University.
Three entrants from University of Liverpool and one contender from Newcastle battled it out in the UEG and Jane Hirst was one of the three winners in the Heart and Smooth Radio Awards, she was named ‘Outstanding Teacher’.
Creator, Rob McLoughlin OBE (www.robmcloughlin.com) said ‘ the 10th event is a wonderful achievement and moment’.
‘Education needs political and public support like never before and this Northern showcase has grown and grown thanks to a unique combination of committed judges from across business and academia, from a wonderful range of commercial sponsors and supporters and partners which cross broadcasting, AI technology and education itself’.
‘We look forward to celebrating all the nominees in April of 2024’.
