The garden of recognition is being prepared for seeding the 2026 round of Open Education Awards for Excellence! Here are the timelines, stages in the process, and updates for this year.
The 2026 OEAwards Timeline
| May 11 | Call for Nominations opens |
| Jun 19 | Deadline to submit a nomination |
| Jun 29 | Review Committee process commences |
| Aug 3 | Notifications and certificates emailed to all nominees |
| Aug 17 | Shortlist of finalists announced online |
| Sep 2 | Winners announced in a live webcast |
| Oct 7-9 | Awardees panel at OEGlobal 2026 |
| Nov ?? | Tentative OEAwards online showcase event |
Stages in the Awards Process
Get Inspired for the 2026 OEAwards!
Explore the stories of the 284 awardees who have been recognized since 2011 or discover something new by viewing a randomly selected winner. Tune in to 54+ episodes of the OEGlobal Voices podcast, featuring conversations with previous winners. Hear or read the impact stories of past awardees.
Dig Deep – Submit your Nominations!
Nominations for the 2026 OEAwards will open on May 11 and remain open through June 19. See the 2026 Awards Nomination Guide now to prepare your nomination(s). New in 2026, we are the guide for the OEAwards Review Committee ahead of time, including the response rating rubric.
Tending the Seedlings – The Review Process Commences
After collecting all the seeds of recognition, in July 2026, the OEAwards Review Committee, consisting of previous awardees, will nurture the garden and select the Nominee Shortlist (to be shared by mid-August). All nominees will be notified of their recognition and will receive a digital badge and certificate of accomplishment.
Sharing and Celebrating the Garden at the End of the Season
Join us in early September for our live-streamed announcement of the 2026 Open Education Awards for Excellence winners. A session during the OEGlobal 2026 Conference, October 7-9 at MIT, will feature winners onsite in Cambridge and those who can join online.
What is happening in 2026?
- The theme continues: Everything Starts With a Seed. In 2025, we introduced the new seed-planting and gardening metaphor, with visuals that showcase seeds, plants, and gardening. It represents the idea that all open education projects and programs begin with a seed. These seeds are nurtured and cared for, with the hope that they will grow into flourishing plants and trees. By applying this metaphor to the OEAwards (one part of a larger ecosystem of recognition and gratitude), we celebrate the effort and care behind the beauty and diversity of fully grown plants and flowers, all of which start from a seed. In this context, your nomination is like that seed.
- Simple Set of OEAward Categories. This year, we continue with our set of three main categories that still encompass all previous awards. We invite you to be descriptive in the exact name to describe a nomination, so if awarded, it can have a specific and custom award name that best fits the nominee
The main categories remain:- Individual Awards (People of Open)
- Open Assets (What We Share)
- Open Practices (How We Share)
- Everyone is recognized. The focus is on broad recognition, so, as we did in 2025, we will not only list all nominees but also share full details about them. All nominees are issued digital certificates to document the recognition.
- The seeds are metaphors, and real trees are planted. The final outcome of the 2025 OEAwards was that 900 trees were planted worldwide in the names of last year’s winners. We will continue this act of recognition and revitalization in 2026, through One Tree Planted.
Latest OEAwards News
- Today the Open Education Awards for Excellence is starting the new cycle of recognition with the site now accepting nominations for the 2026 awards. Our ecological theme introduced last year […]
- This year, in keeping with our theme, we "awarded" all OEAward25 winners trees planted in their names.
Activity in OEGlobal Connect
- Originally published at: Ready for the new season of OEAwards: Planting Seeds of Recognition Again in 2026 – OEGlobal Today the Open Education Awards for Excellence is starting the new cycle of recognition with the site now accepting nominations for the 2026 awards. Our ecological theme introduced last year returns with the idea of a […]
- A treat for those who are reading posts here in OEG Connect, you are the first to get our early notice that we are in motion to open the “garden” for the 2026 Open Education Awards for Excellence. Last year we set the program in motion with this theme, where the fruits and flowers of […]
- As a close to 2025, celebrate what the seeds of recognition have produced through this year’s Open Education Awards for Excellence. Tisza River – artificially planted forest, floodplain near Algyoe Hungary Wikimedia Commons photo by Takkk shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license. Originally published at: From Planting Seeds of Recognition for OEAwards […]
- Originally published at: And the 2025 #OEAward Winners Are … – OEGlobal In an exciting OEGlobal Live show on Friday, October 17, a bumper crop of 31 Award Winners was announced. These awards were selected through a rigorous selection process from a rich field of 193 nominations representing 42 countries. The 2025 Review Committee, consisting […]
- Indeed, everyone has a front row seat in YouTube to see the live streamed announcement of the winners of the 2025 Open Education Awards for Excellence. Join us on OEGLive to see who and what are added to the Hall of Fame gallery of previous award winners. This is the full flowering of this year’s […]
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