2026 Winners

The Educate North Awards represent both an important high-point and aspiration for the North’s academics, institutions and indeed students. It provides a platform for sharing excellence and achievement. More importantly it encourages, promotes, and nurtures the sector and talent. Congratulations on reaching 10. Here’s to the next ten celebrations of what the education sector achieves.

I was overwhelmed to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award as part of the Educate North Awards. It’s inspiring to see so many dedicated people being recognised for their important work across the educational sector and across so many disciplines. I hope the creators will build upon their own success and create more opportunities to showcase what education really means in the North of this country.

Seeing the Educate North Awards live for the first time was a wonderful experience. To bring an often disparate sector together is wonderful, to share best-practice is fulfilling and to see the superb standards from Sixth-Forms, Further Education and then HE in one room is often, breathtaking. We should embrace the ENAs more and drive it forward beyond this special 10th ceremony.

The idea sounded complex but exciting in 2015. Could the North create a showpiece which would harness the best of the talents we have in our educational sector? Would anyone even enter? Would we create a respected and highly motivated judging panel and find expert leadership for it? Would we also find room, as we did in the first 3 years, to debate the future direction and resources needed to increase social mobility and opportunities for all? Would we find new business ideas and young entrepreneurs as well with a willingness to test their ideas? The answer was yes, and the result is a wonderful parade of superb nominees who are helping shape and change the worlds they occupy. Long may Educate North continue.