We appreciate your interest in contributing to the recognition of open education efforts everywhere.
This guide is to help you prepare and submit a nomination for the 2025 OEAwards for Excellence.
As a community-based open process, the OEAwards welcomes all involved/interested in open education to suggest people and projects worthy of recognition. OEGlobal membership is not a requirement for being nominated nor for submitting a nomination.
We also emphasize that any person participating in providing open education or any open educational resource, project or practice cab be nominated. Our goal is not to just recognize the biggest and most prominent efforts, but to make all contributions visible. This is part of our 2025 theme of “Everything starts with a seed”– that recognition of all nominated is as important as the recognition of the smaller number of awardees. As in previous years, all nominees and all shortlisted finalists will be listed along side the winners through the OEAwards program.
If you have submitted a nomination previously, first of all we say, thank you. This year’s nomination form has been updated to have fewer award category choices but also will ask for more specific information written within limits of content length, and we also ask for a concise statement if alignment with the principles of goals of open education.
Note: Recognizing the potential and implications of Generative AI, we do not restrict the use of it to develop a nomination or assist in language use. However we encourage you to use best practices to be transparent how you used any AI powered tool to draft or outline your written narrative (provide details where indicated in the form)..
What or Who to Nominate?
You might already have an idea of a person, project, or organization to nominate for an award. If not, consider who has made a contribution to your world of open education be it big or small, regional or local? What projects have you seen or been part of that exemplify the spirit of openness? Where have you seen how open education practices made an impact on learners to access and make use of open educational resources?
For inspiration from previous awards, explore the OE Awards Hall of Fame to explore 254 awards given out since 2011. Try a dose of serendipity by looking at a randomly chosen previous award winner.
Listen or read from our collection of OEAward Impact Stories. Or listen to the OEG Voices podcast conversations with award winners going back to 2021. See as well Education For All: Ten Years of Open Education Luminaries from Around the World the ebook published in 2021 to mark the tenth anniversary of the OE Awards.
And yes, while we aim the awards as a program to recognize colleagues in the open education community, self nominations are allowed.
Which Award/Category to use for your Nomination?
Last year nominators had to choose from 16 different award categories! For 2025 we have simplified this to only three major award categories — Individual Awards (People of Open), Open Assets (What We Share), and Open Practices (How we Share). At the same time, we provide a more flexible means to name the focus of your nomination so a final award will be named accordingly.
Review the 2025 Category Explorer to choose the one where your idea for nomination best fits. Each includes links to see its previous award winners. If you are not quite sure what or who to nominate, exploring the categories too might generate some ideas.
Who or What is Eligible for an OEAward of Excellence?
Award nominations can be made for any person or project that advances Open Education. You do not need to be an OEGlobal member to submit a nomination nor does a nominee need to be a member.
Self-nominations are not only accepted, but over time, has been almost the norm. After all, who knows a person or project better. Still, we strongly consider the nomination of another person or project; that act is one of the highest forms of gratitude.
Note that current Staff and Board Members of Open Education Global are not eligible for Individual Awards.
What Information You Will Need for the Nominations Form?
The items below provide an indication on the information to be entered on the nomination form.
We also provide a Google Doc formatted template for the nomination form, via a link to download your own copy as well as versions in Microsoft Word (.docx) and ODF Open Textr Document (.odt) formats. These forms can be used to organize and draft your information in advance.
- Download an editable copy of the 2025 OEAward Nomination Form Template.as a Google Document.
- Download an MS Word version of the template (.docx)
- Download an Open Document Format of the template (.odt)
About the Nominator (You!)
First, a nominators enters basic contact information– your full name, your preferred name when used to address or introduce you as a person, your email address, and your organizational affiliation.
Award Nomination
Award Category and Focus
Select the Main Award category – Individual Awards (People of Open), Open Assets Award (What We Share), or Open Practices (How We Share). These should accommodate all nominations.
But after selecting the main category, you will see the option to define or name the award more specifically. This is a drop down menu of options that include previous award categories, but with a special choice of “Other” with a text entry field. Using this option provides you the mwans to be very specific as to the scope of the award, which will also become the award’s precise name.
Depending on the Main Award Category selected, the menu options below will be available
Role of Nominated Individual:
- Leader
- Educator
- Student
- Catalyst
- Support Staff
- Other (enter in field below)
In previous years, nominations for Individual Awards were limited to specific roles (Leader, Educator, Student, etc). For 2025, you can choose from a previous award role or select “Other” to enter a more appropriate one if not yet listed. This will become the name of the award, e.g. an Individual Award for Excellence as a ______.
Type of Open Asset:
- OER
- Open Course
- MOOC
- Remix/Adaptation
- Tool
- Other (enter in field below)
In previous years, nominations for Open Asset Awards were limited to specific categories (OER, Open Course, MOOC, Repository, etc). For 2025, you can choose from a previous award name or select “Other:” to enter a more appropriate type if not listed. This will become the name of the award, e.g. an Open Asset Award for Excellence for ______.
Focus of Open Asset:
- Open Pedagogy
- Open Research
- Open Collaboration
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
- Open Resilience
- Other (enter in field below)
In previous years, nominations for Open Practice Awards were limited to specific categories (Open Pedagogy, Research, Policy etc). For 2025, you can choose from a previous award name or or select “Other:” to enter a more appropriate type if not listed. This will become the name of the award, e.g. an Open Practice Award for Excellence in ______.
The next three written sections are perhaps the most important, as this is where you make the case for why your nominee should earn an award. These input fields are limited in length.
Top Reason To Give This Nomination An Award
Write a concise, strong, persuasive rationale on why this nominee deserves an award for excellence in Open Education. This is the headline that will grab the attention of award reviewers and will introduce announcements of awardees. Your response should answer, “The top reason this nomination deserves to be recognized with a 2025 Open Education Award for Excellence is…” (500 character limit).
General Description / Summary
Who is the person you are nominating? What does the resource, project, or practice do or achieve? Write a brief summary bio of the individual or describe the resource, project, or practice being nominated. Do not assume the reviewers have heard of this nominee. This text should explain your nominee’s achievements to someone unfamiliar with them or it. This description should be between 3-5 paragraphs (5000 character limit).
Statement of Alignment with Open Education Global’s Principles and Goals of Open Education
What makes this nominee excellent in the field of open education? Make a case to the review committee for how the nominee exemplifies one or more of the principles and aligns with the goals of Open Education as stated in OEGlobal’s Strategic Plan (see more details). This statement should be about a paragraph in length (2000 character limit).
Up to Three Relevant Web Links
You may add up to three web address to support your nomination. One should be the primary link to a bio or web site for an Individual or the main web site for a resource or project. The other two web links are optional, but may include a video, a key publication, or anything else that will help the reviewers understand the excellence of your nominee.
Contact Information and Other Details
Enter the details for the person being nominated for an Individual Award or the main contact for an Open Asset or Open Practice Award, including:
- Full Name of Individual Nominee or Main Contact
- Nominee Greeting Name The name a nominee or contact that should be used to greet or introduce them as a person, a given name or in some contexts, a first name.
- Email Address of Individual Nominee or Main Contact (for notification purposes only)
- Nominee’s Institution(s) / Affiliation(s) For multiple institution nominees, list all separated by commas.
- Geographic Location of Person or Project/Resource (City, Country, used for showing on a global map).
- Additional Countries Represented For collaborative projects/resources, enter the names of other countries represented in the nomination.
- Nominee or Project Primary Social Media Link The full web address of the most relevant social media contact for this nominee or project.
This Nominee is…
This Information is used solely for program summary; it has no bearing on the review of this nomination. Check all that apply,
- from an under-represented region (e.g. outside of Canada, United States, Europe)
- represents a language other than English
- is affiliated with or is an OEGlobal member
Generative AI Transparency
In a spirit of transparency, we ask all nominators to indicate how Generative AI was used to submit this form. e.g. to organize statements, to assist for writing in a language that is not your primary one, etc. Please make sure all written statements are reviewed and composed as best as possible from a human perspective. This has no bearing on the review of your nomination.
Make a Nomination
The nomination form will be available starting June 9, 2025.