Awards

AADES presents up to four awards at its biennial conference recognising the achievements of members of the Australasian distance education community.

Nomination and selection processes are distributed to member schools in the year of the biennial conference.

AADES Awards

Recognising Excellence in Distance Education

Categories of Awards

Project Achievement Award
Teaching Excellence Award
Curriculum Design Award
Leadership Excellence Award
Presidential Citation for Outstanding Service to AADES

Presentation of all AADES Awards will take place at the 2026 AADES Biennial Conference in Sydney.

AADES Awards Process

Stage 1: Nominations

A call for nominations for the AADES Awards will be conducted at the AADES Council Annual General Meeting in March of conference year and promoted using the AADES website and network. Any institutional member school of AADES is eligible to submit one nomination per AADES Award category, either on their own behalf or on behalf of another individual or school. AADES Council members and/or Principal Class of all institutional member AADES schools have a role to play in identifying and encouraging high quality nominations worthy of being an AADES Awards recipient/s for each category.

All teaching staff in schools that are institutional members are regarded as being financial members of AADES. Nominations for AADES Awards must be made by:

A financial member of AADES (verified by the President and Secretary), or
Two financial members of AADES (both to sign),or the
AADES President.

Nominations should focus on achievements and results from the previous two years. Each nomination should be brief, concise and factual. A nomination cover sheet (attached) must accompany each AADES Award nomination. Following is the documentation that needs to be submitted for each nomination:

Nomination cover sheet endorsed by the institutional member school Principal.
A single page resume / curriculum vitae (for individual nominations).
A single page profile of school (for Project Achievement Award).
No more than two A4 pages providing a summary of the key evidence supporting the nomination.
A short 1 – 3 minute video clip outlining the project or area of teaching/leadership excellence.
A testimonial of no more than a single page provided by someone other than a nominator or referee.
Two referees who have not nominated the nominee.

All information contained in the entries that is marked confidential will be treated as such and not be released without permission of the entrant.

All nominations must be submitted to the AADES President on or before the final date of entry. The AADES President reserves the right to refuse any nominations submitted after this date.

Stage 2: Selection Panel Formation

The independent selection panel for each AADES Award will be appointed by the AADES President with the support of the AADES Executive. The independent selection panel will be comprised of AADES Council members who do not have a nominee from their school or jurisdiction so as to avoid any real or perceived conflict of interest. Any selection panel member with a conflict of interest for a particular AADES Award category will excuse themselves from the selection panel for that category.

Stage 3: Selection Process

The AADES President will send completed nominations to the independent selection panel. The panel’s judgement will be impartial, balanced, incisive and fair. The selection panel will review the submissions and allocate a score/ranking for each applicant based on the selection criteria. The applicant with the highest score in each category once the selection process has been completed will be named the winner of the AADES Award.

Stage 4: Awards Ceremony

The winners in each AADES Awards category will be announced at the AADES Biennial Conference Dinner. Winners will also be published online on the AADES website.

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AADES Project Achievement Award

The AADES Project Achievement Award is presented every two years to a school, chapter or support organisation which has been judged to have developed a project or program that has been outstanding in providing improved educational opportunities for distance education students at a school level.

Selection Criteria:

The project can be school-wide or subject specific. The following selection criteria will be considered by the selection panel when judging this category:

Consultation and engagement to determine the need for the project
Stakeholder engagement and school community consultation in the project design process
Strong leadership at all levels to support the project
Change management and implementation process
Evaluation of the impact on student learning outcomes (high criterion)
Demonstrated sustainability of the project

Other Selection Guidelines:

The project must be either ongoing or, no more than two years have elapsed since the project concluded.
Individuals are not eligible for nomination.

Selection Panel:

Appointed by the AADES President in accordance with the selection panel formation guidelines.

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AADES Teaching Excellence Award

This AADES Award recognises the most outstanding teacher in an AADES school.

Selection Criteria:

The following selection criteria will be considered by the selection panel when judging this category:

Consistently high standards of teaching that reference the teacher Standards. Australia - https://www.aitsl.edu.au/teach/standards New Zealand - https://teachingcouncil.nz/content/our-code-our-standards
Innovation in developing students and supporting their learning
Commitment to professional development and collaboration with colleagues to address student learning needs
Engagement with parents/carers and the wider school community
This award is open to all teachers currently employed in an AADES associated school. Nominees must be in the role of teacher at the time of nomination.

Other Selection Guidelines:

A nominee must have been working in distance education (school sector) as a practicing teacher for a minimum of two years and must have been a class teacher in the year of nomination.
Only quite outstanding distance education teachers in distance education schools throughout Australasia will be considered.
The nomination must be co-verified by a group of peers and the nominee’s supervisor.

Selection Panel:

Appointed by the AADES President in accordance with the selection panel formation guidelines.

AADES Curriculum Design Award

The AADES Curriculum Design Award is presented every two years to a school, chapter or support organisation, which has been judged to have designed online curriculum that has been outstanding in providing improved educational opportunities for distance education students at a school level.

Selection Criteria:

The following selection criteria will be considered by the selection panel when judging this category:

Clear links to the relevant curriculum frameworks e.g. The New Zealand Curriculum, Australian Curriculum, Victorian Curriculum, Western Australian Curriculum etc.
Innovation in distance education curriculum design
Use of research-based pedagogies and consultation/engagement to determine the need for the new or redeveloped curriculum
Stakeholder engagement and school community consultation in the curriculum design and development process (e.g. students, parents/carers, school councils)
Use of inclusive practices to ensure accessibility for all students
Evaluation of the impact on student learning outcomes as a result of the introduction/use of the new or redeveloped curriculum design (high criterion)

Other Selection Guidelines:

The online curriculum must have been designed or developed within the past two years.
The online curriculum could be a learning sequence or program, unit or module, year level or whole school.
Only teams are eligible for nomination.

Selection Panel:

Appointed by the AADES President in accordance with the selection panel formation guidelines.

AADES Leadership Excellence Award

This AADES Award recognises the most outstanding leader in an AADES school.

Selection Criteria:

The following selection criteria will be considered by the selection panel when judging this category:

Consistently high standards of leadership that reference the Lead Standards. Australia - https://www.aitsl.edu.au/teach/standards New Zealand - https://teachingcouncil.nz/content/our-code-our-standards
Innovation in developing teachers and supporting their professional learning to improve student outcomes
Commitment to professional development and collaboration with other leaders to address student learning needs
Engagement with parents/carers and the wider school community
This award is open to all leaders employed in an AADES associated school. Nominees must be in the role of leader at the time of nomination.

Other Selection Guidelines:

A nominee must have been working in distance education (school sector) as a practicing leader for a minimum of two years and must have been a leader in the year of nomination.
Only quite outstanding distance education leaders in distance education schools throughout Australasia will be considered.
The nomination must be co-verified by a group of peers and the nominee’s supervisor.

Selection Panel:

Appointed by the AADES President in accordance with the selection panel formation guidelines.

Presidential Citation for Outstanding Service to AADES

This award is given to those, who in the opinion of the AADES President and AADES National Council, have made an outstanding recent contribution to AADES.

Guidelines for Selection:

Only quite outstanding contributions to AADES will be considered.
Where, in the opinion of the AADES President and/or selection panel, no nominee meets the selection guidelines in any given year, no Presidential Citation will be awarded for that year.
The Presidential Citation may be given to an individual who has been a member of AADES for a minimum of three years and contributed significantly to AADES at a State/National or Australasian level.
To be considered for a Presidential Citation. the nominee must have made a significant contribution to:
furthering the goals of AADES
advancing the organisational development of AADES
No more than two years may have elapsed since the nominee has been a member of AADES. The citation must be endorsed by the AADES President and AADES National Council to be presented.

Selection Panel:

To be appointed by the AADES President.

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