The timing of the season of Spring varies globally, but every region experiences the time of year when gardens and fields are prepared for planting seeds to become our food, flowers, and trees. Now is the time for the start of the cycle here at Open Education Global that result in the final crop of Open Education Awards for Excellence.
Each year since 2011, OEGlobal has facilitated the community process where any person, project, resource can be nominated for the recognition of an OEAward. The yield over the years has been impressive, with over 240 awardees representing the global reach of open education, and many of them have shared their stories of the importance and impact of winning an OEAward.
If you previously have followed the awards program, you may notice a new visual theme and gardening metaphor introduced for 2025– with the aim of communicating that the awards are part of a larger ecosystem of recognition that ought to highlight much more than the winners. Yes, the awards themselves are of large value, but what is more important to this ecosystem is, as we did in the last few years, making visible all the nominees and the large collection of shortlisted finalists.
“Everything Starts With Planting a Seed…”
This is our theme this year, a saying used in books and by many other thinkers before. So while our OEAwards process is aimed at identifying the winners, we all gain my growing many more examples of recognition in open education.
And that time for planting a seed in 2025 opens June 9, 2025, when nominations open for this year’s awards. We ask the community of open education gardeners to consider making a nomination, not just for the perceived possibility of winning an award, but to add to this ecosystem of recognition.
Planting Seeds for the 2025 OEAwards
There is plenty of time to plant a seed as nominations will be accepted from June 9 through July 21, 2025. Here are some things to keep in mind this year:
- Who or what to nominate? We like to think any person or project active in open education is worthwhile to nominate. Do not dismiss a potential nominee for not being “big enough”. You can find inspiration in the Awards Category Explorer, but we also encourage you to consider a key local colleague, librarian, media specialist, administrator who is making a difference. Consider as well projects and resources that support your efforts. What are ones worth sharing?
- Fewer Categories / More Flexibility. In previous year the awards were organized around specific categories, last year nominators had to choose from sixteen of them! We have simplified the main awards to just three – Individuals (People of Open), Open Assets (What We Share), or Open Practices (How We Share). At the same time, the new nomination form offers a place to more specifically define a focus for the award, almost like “choose your own award name”.
Also, when you submit a nomination this year, the nomination text we ask for requires a bit more specificity, asking for a very brief statement of why a nominee deserves and award, a short bio (for Individual awards) or description (for Open Asset and Open Practice awards), and a clear statement of alignment with OEGlobal’s principles and goals of open education.
As always you may nominate yourself or your own project, after all, who knows the subject better? But also consider the impact of expressing gratitude in the nomination of others. Both are seeds worth planting. Also note that we welcome nominations entered in any language– do not feel required to write in English.
What to Do Next?
We offer many guidelines- if you have a good idea of who or what you wish to nominate, you might just start right away. But as a gardeners guide, consider:
- Awards Information for 2025 – Look here for awards timeline latest updates, and other program information.
- Category Explorer – Many links to find inspiration for making a nomination and more detail on the main award categories.
- Awards Nomination Guide – Look here for details on what types of information are required for a nomination. You will find downloadable templates for the nomination form available as a copyable Google Doc or downloadable files. Entering a nomination is easiest if you have prepared this information in advance.
- Nomination Form – The form has already opened on June 9, 2025, and is available through the end of your day July 21, 2025.
We hope you are inspired to plant some seeds this year! We are standing by to celebrate the first and all subsequent nominations. For any questions on the awards, contact us via awards@oeglobal.org.
