To mark the sacrifices by the education sector, students, lecturers and academic staff during the Covid crisis, Educate North teamed up with listeners to three popular radio stations Smooth North West, Heart Yorkshire and Smooth North East.  

Listeners inundated the stations with nominations for outstanding individuals or organisations in 3 new categories. The results saw one teacher dance and jig in his classroom as he became a winner. 

Professor Tony Young, Head of Clinical Innovation for NHS England also announced 3 nominations for a special Health Award. This was won by The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine along with its partners at The University of Liverpool and NHS Hospitals Trust. 

Among the many other winners was Edge Hill in Ormskirk, Lancashire, which was awarded overall University of the Year in recognition of its continued commitment to deliver an exceptional student experience. 

The University was awarded the coveted top prize for the exceptional progress it has made to deliver investment and innovation over the past 12 months and its dedication to placing students at the heart of everything it does. 

The University of Cumbria’s Festival of Mental Health won the community engagement award.

The Festival is a celebration of wellbeing and offers help and support to all through its array of workshops including gardening, mindfulness, yoga and creative arts. There is also an art festival, talks, and a ‘marketplace’ of local charities, organisations and institutions.

Raising funds for local charities, the festival’s patron is Wigton-born author, broadcaster and peer Melvyn Bragg, who is an honorary fellow of the university and a past president of the national charity Mind.

Coinciding with World Mental Health Day every October, the Festival of Mental Health strengthens the University of Cumbria’s role as a leading training provider of nursing and other health professionals across the region and beyond.

The Principle of Birkenhead Sixth Form College, Mike Kilbride, was honoured with the national award for outstanding leadership. The ‘UK Leadership Award’ was given in recognition of significant achievements in leading Birkenhead Sixth Form College on a complete journey of transformation, not least being rated as outstanding in all areas by Ofsted.

The college has been shortlisted once again for the UK Sixth Form College of the Year by TES Awards, formerly the Times Education Supplement.

It won the award just three years ago and this year’s shortlisting cements their place as a national leader in Further Education.

Although the Educate North Awards ceremony was honouring 2020 winners, with last year’s celebration being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, circumstances of the last year and more have brought into stark light the qualities of leadership required to deal with young people’s education and the deficits that they have endured during various lockdowns.

Both staff and students at the College have benefitted from what they called Mr Kilbride’s ‘strong, passionate and thoughtful’ leadership, and his communication with all parties about the direction he was steering the College through the pandemic has been highly praised by parents, with one saying it was ‘first class’.

Accepting the UK Leadership Award, Mike Kilbride said: “It’s obviously personally very gratifying to be recognised for the work that you’ve done over many years, but you can’t have success as a leader without a fantastic team behind you.”

The Educate North Awards are organised by Carm Productions in conjunction with partners John Kennedy CBE, CCL Digital, the Masood Entrepreneurship Centre, The Pilot Group, Communicorp UK, Heart Yorkshire, Smooth North West and Smooth North East. The full ceremony can be viewed below.