How to Enter

The Prizes are open to recognised universities and multidisciplinary colleges of further education in the UK, and to sixth form colleges.  Eligibility to enter is determined by the Trustees.  Institutions are invited to submit a single entry per round of the scheme, based on any area or aspect of their work or on their overall educational programmes and provision.  Entries undergo a rigorous process of independent external assessment.  This includes review by national and international experts and specialists covering the relevant disciplines, reference to government departments and UK devolved governments with a particular interest in the fields of work under consideration and to professional and other bodies and sources.

Entries are required to address the assessment standards published in the Entry Document   The assessment standards are evidence-based and must be capable of external validation.  In line with the criteria for awards made in previous rounds the standards for the 2010-12 Diamond Jubilee Round will focus on:

Achievement of excellence – what defines the outstanding quality of the work and its strategic importance?

Impact and benefit for the institution – how has the work contributed to the teaching, learning and research activity of the institution and to its overall standing and wellbeing?

Impact and benefit for the wider community – what has been the impact of the work at local, regional, national or (as applicable) international level and how far has it been replicated or transferred elsewhere?

New developments and different approaches – what are the distinctively innovative and original features of the work and what is the basis of the claim to distinctiveness? 

At the close of the assessment process, which for the Diamond Jubilee Round runs from April to September 2011, the Awards Council makes recommendations for the award of Queen’s Prizes from a shortlist of entries.  The recommendations are passed to No. 10 for the Prime Minister’s advice to The Queen.  The official announcement of the Prize-winners will be made in November.

The Entry Document for the Queen's Anniversary Prizes for Higher and Further Education 2010-12 (Diamond Jubilee) Round

The Entry Document was posted to institutions on 5 October 2010.  It is addressed personally to the head of institution (Vice-Chancellor/Principal).  The Document contains full details of the scheme's procedures and assessment process, the assessment standards, the application forms, the Rules of the scheme and the Conditions of Application.

The information is available on this page as a downloadable Acrobat pdf file.  Click here to download