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 nomination being a gracious act of seed planting that is the start of what blossoms into an award.
We invite you to start now the 2026 season of seeding recognition for People of Open (individual Awards), What We Share (Open Asset Awards), or How We Share (Open Practices Awards).
Now in its fifteenth year, Open Education Global’s program for the Awards of Excellence will again honor and make visible all nominees, all the seeds planted. In 2025, we shared 196 nominations representing 42 countries, a highlighted collection of 42 semi-finalists, and the final list awardees. And to maintain the metaphor, in lieu of trophies, we arranged to have trees planted around the world in the name of the awardees.
We emphasize our focus here is not on the awards but on the wide scope recognition of people and efforts in Open Education, be they global, regional, or local, projects big or small. This is a community garden – the OEAwards are driven by nominations from the general Open Education community and selection of the finalists are made by a review committee of past award winners, OEGlobal Board members, and OEGlobal member representatives.
The OEAwards are open to anyone in the Open Education community to nominate or to be nominated (it is not restricted to OEGlobal members). We also invite/encourage you to write your nomination in your preferred language. And we have no restriction on the use of Generative AI in preparing your nomination, we only ask for a clear statement what tool was used and how.
Self nominations are accepted and encouraged, but please keep in mind the act of gratitude represented in nominating another person or project, and the impact of them being notified of your nomination — new this year we are notifying people right away of their nomination, and if you indicate so on the nomination form, they will know who to thank.
When You Are Ready to Plant a Seed…
The soil is now prepared and ready for you to plant one (or more) seeds, between now and June 19. Here is how you can get started.
If you are new to the process, we offer some tips. if you have a good idea of who or what you wish to nominate, you might just start right away. But as a guide to OEAward gardeners, consider:
- OEAwards Information – Check here for the program timelines, and other news/updates.
- Category Explorer – Get inspiration for making a nomination from links to past awardees in each category, stories of impact, and our OEGlobal Voices podcast with preview winners,
- Awards Nomination Guide – Find a full detailed overview of information needed for a nomination. We offer templates for the nomination form available as a copyable Google Doc or downloadable files. Entering a nomination is easiest if you have prepared this information in advance.
- OEGlobal’s principles and goals of open education – Give these some thought as these are the items which our review committee evaluates nominations.
- Nomination Form – The form is now open (and has already been used!) and is available through the end of your day June 19, 2026.
We hope you are inspired to plant some seeds this year and make this year’s recognition garden the most vibrant ever.
For any questions on the OEAwards, please contact us via awards@oeglobal.org.