Educator of the Year Awards - 2026

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Timeline

Friday 1st May 2026: Nominations OPEN

Wednesday 15th July 2026 : Nominations CLOSE 

Tuesday 11th August 2026: Award winners ANNOUNCED 

AWARD CEREMONY WILL BE HELD in September 2026

About the Awards

The Victorian Environmental Educator of the Year Awards acknowledge individuals from EEV’s membership who have made an exemplary contribution to the field of environmental and sustainability education. 

These awards build recognition of the important work of our sector, and aim to: 

  • demonstrate the leadership and capacity of professional environmental educators

  • highlight the outcomes and achievements of environmental programs and initiatives

  • acknowledge the breadth and commitment of educators, teachers, staff and leaders in integrating sustainability across all educational settings.  

Environment and sustainability educators may: 

  • come from fields of teaching, learning, research and policy that span across the natural and social sciences

  • work in educational institutions across early learning, primary, secondary and tertiary settings, or 

  • work for government or not-for-profit organisations, or may be independent providers working within the community. 


Eligibility

All current EEV members may be nominated for these awards - except for current members of the EEV Committee of Management and paid EEV employees. 

EEV members are strongly encouraged to nominate themselves or another EEV member. 

Please note: you do not need to be an EEV member to nominate someone else for this award. Only the nominee must be an EEV member in order to be eligible. 


Award categories

There are three award categories that nominees may apply for. 

  • Early childhood educators or primary school teachers and staff.

  • Secondary school or tertiary education teachers, academics and staff

  • Educators working to support schools and/or the general community. 


Process

  • All nominations will be judged against the criteria in the application. 

  • Applications should clearly demonstrate how the nominee has made a positive contribution to environmental and/or sustainability education in the calendar years of 2024-26. All programs and initiatives, (plus any supporting evidence such as reference letters, documents and photos) must have been undertaken over the past two calendar years.  

  • Nominations will be considered by a Judging Panel set up by the EEV Committee of Management, consisting of at least one member of the EEV Committee of Management and two other environmental/sustainability educators nominated by the Committee of Management.   

  • The awards will be determined at the discretion of the Judging Panel based on the information provided by the applicant and the degree to which the criteria have been met.  

  • EEV reserves the right to not award in any given year.


Awards Ceremony

Award winners will be honoured at a presentation ceremony in September 2026.

Award winners will each receive a framed certificate, plus a range of prizes. 
We are currently liaising with our supporters and sponsors and will announce prizes soon. 

Award winners will be publicly announced in EEV’s social media (Facebook and LinkedIn). They will also be featured in EEV’s flagship publication Eingana, and will be recognised in the EEV Annual Report and at the EEV Annual General Meeting. 

At the discretion of the EEV Judging Panel, a recipient of a Victorian Environmental Educator of the Year Award may also be nominated for the Australian Association for Environmental Education (AAEE) Environmental Educator of the Year Award. 

PREVIOUS WINNERS

Learn more about our previous winners HERE


Further information

Jo Connor, Executive Officer, (03) 7046 1752 or email: info@eev.vic.edu.au


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