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Once you decide to nominate for the awards it’s important to talk to your site leader or manager and choose the most appropriate category. Your principal or director will need to endorse your nomination after you submit it.

View the award categories and choose 1 in which you can most comprehensively address all the award criteria.

The categories* are open to all employees of the Department for Education. Individuals or teams that have previously been recognised as a winner or finalist in any category of the awards cannot resubmit a nomination for the same initiative in future years. Previous winners and finalists are only eligible to nominate with a different initiative.

*The Aunty Josie Agius award category is only open to Aboriginal employees and teams. This excludes external contractors.

*The Community Impact Award is open to our community members, individuals or teams, who have made a significant contribution to the site community. This may include:

• parents or caregivers
• coaches
• members of site or governing councils
• contractors
• those that have been supportive of public education.

For team nominations there’s no limit to the number of team members you can include, as long as they’ve all made a significant contribution to the achievement or activity. There may be a limit on how many tickets the team can get for the awards night.

Go to the online form to start filling out your nomination:

You’ll need to create a login and follow the steps listed in the form. Nominations must be submitted by a Department for Education employee. Your progress will be automatically saved so you can leave and revisit your nomination as many times as you need before 30 June, when your nomination must be submitted. We recommended that you save as you go.

You can leave and revisit your nomination as many times as you need. Just make sure you finalise and submit the nomination before midnight 30 June 2025.

If you wish to complete your nomination on a word document before entering the awards platform, you may use a nomination template  (on this page).

Read our tips for writing a good nomination (on this page).

How nominations will be assessed

Judges will assess each nomination based on the criteria and level of evidence provided.

Evidence is one of the most important parts of your nomination. Judges are looking for initiatives that have a focus on impact, sustainability and scalability.

Avoid acronyms or relying on assumed knowledge as judges may be unfamiliar with all areas of work across our system.

Your site leader or director will need to approve your nomination after you submit it. So, it's a good idea to discuss the nomination with them before submitting.

Your nomination will then need to be endorsed by your education director or executive director.

Before submitting your nomination

Before you submit your nomination make sure you've:

• read the terms of entry in the nomination guide (PDF 1 MB)
• answered all questions and addressed all criteria
• checked carefully that there are no spelling errors (including names).

It's also a good idea to ask a colleague to read through and check your nomination before you submit it.

Submitting your nomination

Use the online form to complete and submit your nomination before midnight 30 June 2025 (late entries won't be accepted):

You'll receive a confirmation email once you've submitted your nomination.

To make sure all finalists are in good standing with the department and community, all nominations undergo due diligence checks.

The Organisational Development Team will advise if you’re a finalist once all checks have been conducted and judging is complete.

Information sessions are held during the nomination period. They cover how to nominate and what makes a good nomination.

Get inspiration for your nomination by viewing the winners and finalists for 2024.

You can also read testimonials from past winners.

Examples of evidence may include:

• instances of learners having a strong sense of belonging and feeling safe
• children and young people actively engaged in and having agency in their learning
• how our people have worked  in partnership with teams, sites, educators, children, families or communities to achieve positive outcomes
• how learners are deeply engaged in critical and creative thinking
• how learners are empowered to develop the skills, attitudes and dispositions as lifelong learners
• environments that have been established to value diversity and inclusion in the community
• how your initiative aligns to the strategy for public education, levers for impact and guiding principles.

You can provide evidence in 2 attachments to support your nomination if needed. This could include a video of how the impact that this initiative has made.

When writing your nomination:

• the criteria is written in the first person however, if you are writing on behalf of an individual or team, consider it from their perspective
• think about 1 good example and use the same example throughout each of the criteria, so that judges can see the impact sustainability and scalability of the initiative
• if you’re writing on behalf of someone, describe the context to give the judges a feel for the nominee/s
• include headings, sub-headings and bullet points to make it easier to read
• make sure your answers are clear and written in plain English
• avoid using acronyms or relying on assumed knowledge
• you’re allowed 250 words for each criteria to provide as much detail as possible.

Consider following the STAR model to structure your responses:

• Situation: What was the situation, context, or challenge faced?
• Task: What needed to be accomplished, what role did you play?
• Action: What did you do and how did you go about it?
• Result: What results or outcomes were achieved and what did you learn?

If you wish to work on your nomination offline before submitting, you can use a nomination template. You can then copy and paste your answers from the template into the online nomination form.

• Excellence and Equity in Education Award – nomination template (DOCX 489 KB)
• Innovation in Teaching and Learning Award – nomination template (DOCX 612 KB)
• Excellence in Learner Agency Award – nomination template (DOCX 612 KB)
• Excellence in Collaborative Partnerships – nomination template (DOCX 612 KB)
• Inclusive Practices in Education – nomination template (DOCX 612 KB)
• Outstanding Safety Initiatives – nomination template (DOCX 612 KB)
• Excellence in the Support of Early Career Teachers Award – nomination template (DOCX 612 KB)
• Outstanding Reconciliation Initiatives Award – nomination template (DOCX 654 KB)
• Excellence in Collective Wellbeing Award – nomination template (DOCX 578 KB)
• Aunty Josie Agius Award – nomination template (DOCX 358 KB)
• Excellence in Leadership Award – nomination template (DOCX 612 KB)