The Queen Elizabeth Prizes for Education
The Queen Elizabeth Prizes for Education (formerly Queen's Anniversary Prizes) are part of the UK national honours system and recognise outstanding work in UK universities and colleges.
What are the Queen Elizabeth Prizes for Education?
The Queen Elizabeth Prizes for Education, formerly Queen's Anniversary Prizes, recognise outstanding work by eligible universities and colleges of higher and further education in the United Kingdom. Prizes are awarded for excellence, innovation and well-evidenced benefit for the institution itself and the wider world.
Awarded every two years and recorded in The Gazette, the Prizes recognise not only the team behind the award-winning work, but the institution as a whole. Past winners of the award have been recognised for work in a wide range of disciplines, including:
- arts and humanities
- business and the economy
- education
- health and medicine
- engineering and manufacturing
- environment and conservation
- pure and applied science
- social sciences
Who are the latest winners of the Queen Elizabeth Prizes for Education?
A total of 22 Prizes were awarded for Round 16 of the Queen’s Anniversary Prizes (now Queen Elizabeth Prizes for Education). See the full list of Prize winners in The Gazette supplement below.
The Queen's Anniversary Prizes 2022-2024
Celebrate your award with a commemorative edition
If you have been awarded with the Queen Elizabeth Prizes for Education, The Gazette is available to buy as a personalised commemorative edition. Each pack contains a complete edition of The Gazette supplement the award was published in.
When were the Queen Elizabeth Prizes for Education created?
The creation of the Prizes scheme was announced in Parliament in 1993 by then Prime Minister, Sir John Major, with Queen Elizabeth II’s consent and with all-party support.
First awarded in 1994 and originally called the Queen’s Anniversary Prizes, the Prizes are awarded every two years by the Monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister. In 2024, the winners were first published in The Gazette.
In October 2024 the name of the Prizes scheme changed to the Queen Elizabeth Prizes for Higher and Further Education.
How do you apply for the Queen Elizabeth Prizes for Education?
The Queen Elizabeth Prizes for Education run on a two-year cycle. Entries can be in any subject, field or discipline and must meet each of the Prize scheme criteria:
- quality and excellence
- innovation and distinctiveness
- impact and benefit to the university or college
- impact and benefit to the wider world
Entries are assessed in a rigorous, independent process of review managed by the Royal Anniversary Trust. A shortlist is considered by members of the Trust’s expert Higher and Further Education Panels, before the Trust’s Awards Council arrives at its final recommendations. The Council then sends a list of institutions recommended for an award to the Prime Minister for advice before the final list is presented to the Monarch for approval.
The Prize-winners are formally announced at a reception, usually held St James’s Palace. Prize-winners are then presented with the award by a senior member of the Royal Family at a ceremony traditionally held at Buckingham Palace. This event is customarily held in the February following the Prizes announcement.
Round 16 (2024-2026) will open for applications on 30 October 2024, with winners due to be announced in The Gazette in November 2025. Detailed information on how to enter can be found below.
See also
The Queen's Anniversary Prizes 2022-2024
Birthday and New Year Honours lists (1937 to 2024)
The King's Award for Voluntary Service
The King's Awards for Enterprise
Find out more
About the Prizes (Royal Anniversary Trust)
Images
Getty Images
The Gazette
Publication date
17 October 2024
Any opinion expressed in this article is that of the author and the author alone, and does not necessarily represent that of The Gazette.