The awards are open to all active NSEAD members including anyone working in early years settings, schools, MATs, trusts, partnerships, FE colleges, artist educators and museum and gallery learning teams.
Entry criteria
What is it that makes your nominee stand out as a potential award winner?
We want to hear about the difference that nominees have made to learners, colleagues and the wider community. Their work may have impact on a local, national or international scale.
How are they leading better practice in our subject?
We ask you to provide real examples of the inspirational practice that enthuses, engages and motivates learners and colleagues.
Your nomination
Our judges want to see clear evidence of the impact that the nominee has made on art, craft and design education.
We recommend you write a maximum of 1,000 words ensuring you address the following key points:
- Intention and implementation - What did they want to achieve, and what have been the ingredients of their success? Tell us about aspirational intentions for their learners, and their innovative approaches to teaching and learning in our subject.
- Impact - What difference have they made? How has your nominee enriched the education, outcomes and lives of their learners and inspired colleagues to do the same? Tell us about the tangible difference they have made.
Rules & eligibility
- The awards are open to all active NSEAD members including anyone working in early years settings, schools, MATs, trusts, partnerships, FE colleges, artist educators and museum and gallery learning teams.
- An ‘entry’ is the completion and submission of an ‘NSEAD Awards nomination form’.
- An entry can be completed and submitted by the individual nominee themselves, a colleague, a senior member of the school or organisation, or an external stakeholder working closely with the nominee.
- If you are entering on behalf of a school or organisation, the senior leadership team must be aware of and approve the entry.
- If your entry includes materials that were produced collaboratively with an organisation or individual not involved in the award entry, you must provide written evidence that you have permission from the collaborator to use these materials as supporting evidence.
- Entrants can be working in state-maintained or independent establishments in either England, Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales.
- If the entry is related to a specific project or piece of work, it must have been completed during the current or previous academic year.
- This entry must not include or jeopardise work that is still being assessed.
- An entrant can self-nominate.
- NSEAD has the right to withdraw an entry if the supporting evidence is found to be false.
- NSEAD shall be permitted to exclude any entrant at any time at its sole discretion.
- The closing time and date for entries is 18:00 on 27 March 2026. All entries must be received by this time and date to be included. Entries received after the closing date will not be accepted, nor will any that are incomplete on this date.
- Entries are only accepted via the NSEAD Awards nomination forms.
- All materials submitted, including images and films, may be used by NSEAD to produce publicity material for the awards programme. Materials will always be credited and may be shared including but not exclusively on the NSEAD website, in NSEAD publications and across NSEAD social media channels.
- By submitting an entry, it is deemed as acceptance of these rules and agreement to be bound by them.