DAME CAROL ANN DUFFY AND UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL CELEBRATE WITH TOP EDUCATIONAL AWARDS.
TEACHER WINS SECOND AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING SUPPORT FOR CANCER CHILD.
The Poet Laurette to Queen Elizabeth the Second; a school teacher who showed enormous care and support for a dying pupil and institutions responsible for breakthroughs, sustainability and growing standards were among the winners of the 11th ENAs – Educate North Awards (www.educatenorth.co.uk) staged in Manchester on Thursday 3rd April 2025.
Dame Carol Ann Duffy DBE thanked family, friends as well as her peers at Manchester Metropolitan University, as Professor Mark Power, handed her The Lifetime Achievement Award at the start of a remarkable and often emotional ceremony as the work of the North’s Universities, Higher Education and Further Education and Sixth Forms were celebrated at the annual ENAs dinner.
Professor Power, Vice Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University, described her as an ‘Extraordinary poet, teacher and literary trailblazer’ who was the ‘First woman, first Scot and first openly LGBTQ+ poet to be appointed Poet Laureate’.
During the night Durham School Teacher Susan Allinson heard tributes from the parents of Bob Theakston who tragically died of cancer at aged 6 in 2024 for the remarkable way she became almost a ‘second mother’ as he battled the disease.
‘I don’t think of myself as special, it’s just what we should all do’ she told the audience.
Susan Allinson rose to a standing ovation as she was handed her ENA trophy after being nominated by listeners to Smooth and Heart radio across the North. She was previously appointed a winner in 2022.
Ranvir Singh from ITV’s ‘Good Morning Britain’ brought warmth and humour to the stage as she hosted the night which saw University of Liverpool named ‘University of the Year’; Greenhead College was named ‘Further Education College of the Year’ and there were wins for Alexia Lopez of University of Central Lancashire as ‘University/PHD Student of the Year’ and later a £1000 gift for the first ever winner of the ‘Liverpool Hope Prize’ for outstanding work in the area of social mobility.
The full list of winners judged by business, academic and media specialists as well as those nominated by radio listeners can be seen below and on www.educatenorth.co.uk as well as on the websites of Smooth NW; Smooth NE and Heart Yorkshire.
‘2025 has been an exceptional year for these awards which encourage, praise and celebrate developments and achievements in a sector which so often feels forgotten by decision makers in government and elsewhere’ said Broadcaster Rob McLoughlin OBE who founded the ENAs in 2015. ‘We have had record entries for the ENAs, for the entrepreneurs competition we stage and for our Heart and Smooth Radio Awards.’
‘Tonight is an opportunity to demonstrate the importance of the sector to individuals but also to the growth and success of Northern England as an economic and cutting-edge force; we always hope Whitehall is listening’.
University of Liverpool Vice-Chancellor, Professor Tim Jones said: “This is a huge honour for the University, and I’m delighted with this fantastic win’’.
“We are proud to have made important progress in all major international and domestic league tables over the last year and, indeed, we are the only Russell Group university to improve across all five. This, together with our strengths in education and experience, research and innovation, internationalisation, and economic impact really set us apart. Our success at these prestigious awards is testament to the incredible work by teams across the institution and I wish to extend a huge congratulations to them all.”
Four students from Newcastle, Chester, Liverpool and Manchester also competed in the University Entrepreneurs Grant (UEG) as they pitched their new business ideas to the audience of more than 420 contemporaries with the winner walking away with £1000 to write a business plan and have the option of being mentored at the award-winning Business School at the University of Chester.
Emeritus Professors Phil Harris and Ruth Ashford lead the twenty-five strong independent judging panel and official patrons are University of Manchester; Liverpool John Moores University and entrepreneur John Kennedy CBE.
Sponsors for 2025 include CCUK owners of Heart and Smooth; IT Capital; Liverpool Hope University; Mindful Education and Interact.
The ENAs are staged by RM Communications Ltd and produced by Rowan Scahill. They will return in 2026.
During the event tributes were paid to the late Professor Peter Starbuck who supported the awards initiative and Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, welcomed guests from across the UK to the 11th awards praising the winners and nominees as ‘a cause so important to everyone from the east to west coast; you have pioneered key areas of learning, developed new scientific and medical techniques and inspired the generations which will drive us forward in the future’.
Full results:
ENAS ’25:
- Lifetime Achievement Award – Dame Carol Ann Duffy DBE
- Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Award – Hull College – Silent Voices, Vivid Stories
- Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) Initiative Award – Northumbria University & Woodhorn Mining Museum – STEM Communities
- Liverpool Hope Prize; Outstanding Achievement for Social Mobility – Northern College in Yorkshire – The North’s only adult residential education college
- Community Engagement Award – HE/FE Sector – Education Partnership North East & Northumbria Police – Trainee Detective Programme
- Community Engagement Award – University Sector – York St John University – Converge
- Business Engagement, Employer Award – HE/FE Sector – Franklin Sixth Form College – Emma Swinburn, Jaime Hansen, Honor Walton – Meet the Future
- Business Engagement, Employer Award – University Sector – University of Central Lancashire – Centre for SME and Enterprise Development (CSMEED) and the Institute for Research into Work and Employment (iROWE)
- Heart Creative Arts Award – Sunderland College – Creative Arts ‘Thread of Life’ – A response to the August 2024 Northeast riots
- Apprenticeship Award – York St John University – Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship – Improving the Standard of Policing
- College or FE Student Achievement of the Year – Eshan Bilal, Burnley College
- University/PHD Student Achievement of the Year – Alexia Lopez, University of Central Lancashire
- Digital Education and Development Award – University of Huddersfield – Graduate Career Explorer
- Innovation Award – The Christie Hospital – Teenage & Young Adult Service
- Mental Health and Wellbeing Award – Hopwood Hall College – Addressing Emotionally Based Non-Attendance in Rochdale
- The Sustainable Green Initiative – Hull College – Rising Tides, Rising Minds
- Third Sector Award – HMT St Hughs Hospital & Humber Health Partnership, Diana Princess of Wales Hospital – Sepsis, Together We Can Succeed Conference
- Student Experience Award – HE/FE Sector – The Sixth Form Bolton – Women into Leadership Programme
- Student Experience Award – University Sector – University of Central Lancashire – Transforming Interprofessional Education
- Student Experience Award – University Sector – University of Chester – Academic Skills Team, The Skills Pod
- Campaign of the Year – Northumbria University – NU ALLSTARS
- Business School of the Year – Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool Business School
- Leadership and Innovation Award – Aline Miller, The University of Manchester
- Law School of the Year – Manchester Law School
- Further Education College of the Year – Greenhead College
- University of the Year – University of Liverpool
UEG (UNIVERSITY ENTREPRENEURS GRANT) :
- Alex & Tom Banner, TAB Customs – Newcastle University
- HEART AND SMOOTH RADIO AWARDS:
- Outstanding School, College or University – Royal Northern College of Music
- Outstanding Head Teacher – Scott Cordon, King’s Leadership Academy Liverpool
- Outstanding Teacher – Susan Allinson, Woodham Burn Community Primary Schoo,Durham.
