Recognising outstanding work in UK universities and colleges, the 2025 winners of the Queen Elizabeth Prizes for Education (formerly Queen's Anniversary Prizes) will be announced in a special Gazette supplement in November 2025.

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

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.

When will the next winners of the Queen Elizabeth Prizes for Education be announced?

The Queen Elizabeth Prizes for Higher and Further Education run on a two-year cycle with recipients for Round 16 due to be announced in The Gazette in November 2025.

Prize-winners are announced at a reception, usually held at St James’s Palace, and 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.

Winners of the prestigious award will receive a Prize medal in silver-gilt with Queen Elizabeth II’s cypher, as well as a Prize certificate in gold leaf design, signed by the Monarch.

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.

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See also

The Queen Elizabeth Prizes for Education

The Queen's Anniversary Prizes 2022-2024

The King's Award for Voluntary Service

Find out more

About the Prizes (Royal Anniversary Trust)

Images

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The Gazette

Publication date

12 November 2025

Any opinion expressed in this article is that of the author and the author alone, and does not necessarily represent that of The Gazette.