What or Who to Nominate

You may already have a person, project, or organization in mind to nominate for an OEAward. If not, think about who has made significant contributions to your open education community, whether on a large or small scale, or at a regional or local level. Which projects have you encountered or participated in that embody the spirit of openness? Where have you observed open education practices that have positively affected learners’ ability to access and utilize open educational resources?

Draw inspiration from previous award winners! Explore the OEAwards Hall of Fame to view the 284 awards shared since 2011. Try a dose of serendipity by looking at a randomly chosen previous award winner.

You can also listen to or read from our collection of OEAward Impact Stories, or tune into the OEGlobal Voices podcast, which features conversations with award winners dating back to 2021.

And yes, while we primarily aim to recognize colleagues in the open education community with these awards, self-nominations are welcome.

Choosing the award or category for your Nomination

In years past, nominators had tp chose from 16 different award categories. For 2026, we’ve have kept a simpler structure of just three main award categories:

1. Individual Awards (People of Open)
2. Open Assets (What We Share)
3. Open Practices (How We Share)

We have also introduced a more flexible and creative approach of “Name Your Award” to be specific in focusing the nomination, ensuring that the recognition accurately reflects that focus.

To help you decide on the best category for your nomination, and maybe to consider a specific fopcus, please review the 2026 Category Explorer, which includes links to previous award winners in each main category. Exploring the categories may inspire some ideas if you’re unsure what or whom to nominate.

Deciding Who or What is Eligible for an OEAward of Excellence

Nominations for the 2026 OEAwards can be submitted for any individual, team, project or example of practice engaged in advancing Open Education. You do not need to be a member of OEGlobal to submit a nomination, nor does the nominee need to be a member.

Self-nominations are not only accepted but are also encouraged, as no one knows a person or project better than the people involved! However, we value and urge nominations of your global colleagues and their work, as this gesture is among the highest forms of appreciation and gratitude.

Please note that current staff and board members of Open Education Global (OEGlobal) are not eligible for Individual Awards.

The Information You Will Need for the Nominations Form

Below we share more details on information requested on the nomination form.

We also provide a Google Doc template for the nomination form and links to download your own copy in Microsoft Word (.docx) and ODF Open Document Format (.odt). These forms can be used to organize your thoughts and draft the required information in advance.

• Download an editable copy of the 2026 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)

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About the Nominator (You!)

This first section is about the nominator (you, the person filling out the form) ask for basic contact information:

• Your full name
• A preferred name for addressing for greeting you (as “first/last name is not a universal convention). This is the name we will greet you “Dear _______” in an email message
• Your email address ony so we can update you or contact you if we have a question about your nomination.
• Your organizational affiliation. We also want to track organizations that support the program.
• OEGlobal Membership is not required to submit nominations, we ask only to track the impact of members activities. If the organization entered above is an OEGlobal organizational member, please describe your role (it helps too if the email address entered is one for your work). Also, if you are an OEGlobal Advocate, we ask that you share the link to your OEG Connect account so we can confirm that as your relationship to OEGlobal. Note that membership status has no effect on the review of nominations.
• Subscribe to OEGlobal News by email. Check the box if you wish to be added as a subscriber.

Award Nomination

Award Category and Focus

Select the main award category that best describes your nominee: Individual Awards (People of Open), Open Assets Award (What We Share), or Open Practices (How We Share). These broad categories are designed to accommodate all nominations. For guidance from previous awards, please see the Awards Category Explorer.

Third, once you have selected the main category, you must choose a relevant title from a dropdown menu of previous award titles. If none are appropriate, you can choose “Other” and suggest a suitable title for the award for your nominee in the text field. Using this option allows you to be very specific about the scope of the award, and it will also become the award’s final title. You are encouraged to be creative with an award name!

These of course are very general categories. In past years, we offered preset award subcategories, but now we provide a means for you to “name the award” or be specific and customize the name of the award by describe it’s focus. The guidance for each category is similar.

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.

Reasons To Recognize This Nominee with An OEAward

Write a persuasive rationale why the nominee deserves recognition for Excellence in Open Education. This should be a description that will gain the attention of award reviewers and will also serve to publicly announce nominees/awardees.  Your response should address, “The reason this nomination deserves to be recognized with a 2026 Open Education Award for Excellence is…” (600 character limit).

General Description / Summary

Now you can add more detail. Who is the person you are nominating? What does the resource, project, or practice do or achieve for/in open education? Include a background of an individual or describe the resource, project, or practice being nominated.
Your response 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 the principles and aligns with the goals of Open Education as outlined in OEGlobal’s Strategic Plan.  These are the criteria for which nominations are rated on a scale (see the public version of the Reviewers Guide for the rating rubric). 

Your statement should be about 1-2 paragraphs in length
(3000 character limit).

Up to Three Relevant Web Links

Include up to three web addresses that support this nomination, including at least one that best represents the person, project, resource. These should be public links that the review committee can use to learn more about your nominee. Other links you might consider could be for videos, articles, projects or evidence of impact. Double check that all links are active.

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 so that we may notify them about their nomination.

The following information is requested for the nomination form:

• Full Name: This is either the name of the person nominated for an Individual Award or the main contact for an Open Asset or Open Practices Award.
• Nominee Greeting Name: How should we greet this nominee to personalize an email message to them? “Dear __________, we are excited to inform you that….” This is typically but not always a first name or given name, or a nickname they most typically use.
• Email Address of Individual Nominee or Main Contact: This is for notification purposes only.
• Nominee’s Institution(s) / Affiliation(s): If there are multiple institutions associated with the nominee, please list them all, separating each with a comma.
• Geographic Location of Person or Project/Resource: Please provide the city and country for display of nominees on a global nominations map.
• Additional Countries Represented: For collaborative projects or resources, please enter the names of any other countries represented in the nomination.
• Primary Social Media Link For The Nominee or Project: (optional) The full web address of the most relevant social media contact for this nominee or for a 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);
• works primarily in or is published in a language other than English;
• is affiliated with an OEGlobal member organization;
• is an OEGlobal Advocate

Notification Preference

When we send notifications to nominees, you can indicate if you wish to be acknowledged by name as the person who submitted a nomination. Otherwise it is indicated as an anonymous nomination.

Generative AI Transparency

We do not forbid the use of Generative AI for developing your nomination.  In a spirit of transparency, we ask nominators to indicate specifically how Generative AI was used. Please make sure all written statements are reviewed and composed as best as possible to represent a human perspective. This has no bearing on the review of your nomination. We  are purely interested to understand and share effective use of Generative AI.

Generative AI Usage (required)

Did you make use of any Generative AI tools in the developing of this nomination?

• No
• Yes (details will be added below)

AI Transparency Declaration (required if Yes selected above)

Please share specifically what Generative AI tools were used and for what purpose(s). This should be in the form of declarative statements like “ChatGPT was used to reduce my narrative to fit the character limits” or “Claude provided suggestions for alignment with the principles and goals of open education”

Make a Nomination

The nomination form will be available from May 11 to June 19, 2026.