3 top tips for writing a winning Aspiration Award nomination  

If you’re looking to celebrate a learner, educator, or centre who has gone above and beyond to achieve something outstanding this past year, entering them into our Aspiration Awards is the perfect way to recognise their success!

Our nomination window is open from now until Friday 27 February – and here, we’ve pulled together some of our top tips for how you can craft a winning submission for the individual(s) you’re looking to recognise.

1. Ensure you’re providing evidence that meets the category's criteria  

On each of our submission forms, we’ve included bullet points on what you should aim to include when writing your nomination. Hint – this is the criteria that your nomination will be scored on!

Be sure to provide evidence for each point if you can, as this will give your nominee the best chance of scoring highly. For example, for the Centre of the Year award, one of the criteria points is ‘Has the centre introduced new programmes, processes or initiatives that have had a positive impact on learner outcomes?’ 

Instead of just saying ‘We’ve introduced new programmes for learners’, you should include details on what these programmes are, how your centre has implemented these, and what the benefits have been to the centre, learners or staff, as well as including examples of how they’ve made a difference. Which leads us to…  

2. Highlight achievements with clear examples 

Bring your nominee’s achievements to life with specific examples. Instead of saying ‘They go above and beyond,’ try sharing a specific story that shows how they made a difference. 

For example, for our 2024 Apprentice of the Year winner, Ellie’s nominator detailed her volunteering efforts with detailed examples.

Instead of saying "Ellie volunteers in her spare time", the nominator included details on what she did: “Ellie has volunteered at the Sanctuary Trust café, washing up and putting together care packages, helped to create a user-friendly environment by re-painting walls for children at Moorhouse Children's Centre, and raised funds for various causes. Her efforts include walking around Hollingworth Lake to raise £250 for paint and supporting breakfast events for veterans at Touchstones.” 

Another example comes from our 2025 Against All Odds winner, Anya Clair, whose education was interrupted by a car accident that resulted in physical and cognitive injuries. Where Anya's nominator could've simply told us that Anya deserved the award, she detailed the reasons why:

"Anya is working well. She is remembering small things in class and now can attempt each question. This progress, combined with her unwavering spirit, makes Anya a truly deserving winner. Her story is an inspiration and a powerful reminder that determination and resilience can triumph over adversity."  

Including this level of detail helps us to understand your nominee and their story, impact, and character! 

Pictured: Last year's Against All Odds highly commended recipient, Theresa Jackson, with her award

3. Include quotes from other people

To shape your nomination further, you could include several short quotes from your nominee’s peers, colleagues, teachers, or employers. They could highlight the nominee’s achievements, how they inspire others, or the hurdles that they’ve had to overcome to get to where they are today.  

Including quotes from different perspectives helps to showcase how amazing your nominee is, as well as how respected they are by others whom they interact with.  

Please ensure to get permission from the person you’re using a quote from as if your nominee is chosen as a winner or finalist, we may use this quote in the case study!  

Pictured: Last year's Apprentice of the Year winner, Carly Tait, celebrates with family and her colleagues

Previous winners’ case studies 

Below are some examples of previous year's winners to help inspire you ahead of writing your own nomination: 

• Against All Odds winner – Anya Clair, Wolverhampton College

• Apprentice of the Year winner – Carly Tait, Learning Curve Group

• Learner of the Year winner – Isabelle Fazackerley, Shipley College

• Centre of the Year winner – The Public Services Department at Leeds City College

• Educator of the Year winner –  Caroline Kerr, Southern Regional College

• Support Staff of the Year winner – Andrew Firth, Leeds City College

To discover more information about the awards and access our full list of categories and their entry criteria, visit our Aspiration Awards 2026 page. 

Watch: Our Learner of the Year 2025 winner's story