Cost to submit an entry is £50+VAT (VAT only applies to entrants from the UK) per category. Each entrant can enter a maximum of three categories.

We are looking for all or some of the achievements to have taken place between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2024 for all categories apart from:

International alum of the year - entrants must have graduated from 2021 onwards.

Outstanding contribution to the industry, which has no timeframe attached to it.

PIEoneer of the year - there is no timeframe to this award - it can be awarded to an organisation that has at a minimum, taken the project, business or idea beyond pilot phase and can evidence its success.

Emerging Leader of the year categories, we accept nominations of individuals who have worked in the global education industry for 10 years or less.

The Charlene Allen award for inspirational leadership, we we accept nominations of individuals who have worked in the global education industry for longer than 10+ years.

Yes, absolutely. The PIEoneer Awards are designed to recognise innovation and achievement across the whole of the international education sector, not just big organisations with big budgets. There are many small to medium sized organisations, including new enterprises, who are achieving great things. If you are working with a limited budget/team and feel you have achieved significant impact, please make this clear in your entry. 

Please see our categories page and Entry kit.

A team of The PIE staff and industry experts will put together a shortlist of finalists for each award category by reviewing and scoring the information provided on the entry forms. A maximum of nine shortlisted finalists for each award will be selected.

Each question has an equal weighting and will be scored out of a maximum 10 points. The scores for each question are added together, and the eight entries with the highest cumulative scores in each category will be selected as finalists.

The panel of judges, all of whom are independent of The PIE, will then judge the shortlisted finalists for each award category and select a winner in each. They will score in the same way - by giving a score out of 10 to each question. The entries with the highest cumulative score across all the judges will be selected as the winner for that category.

Please think carefully about the information you present in your answers. Don't repeat content across questions on the same entry form, and use numerical data wherever possible to illustrate your achievements and the impact your work has had. 

If there is a conflict of interest between entrants and judges, judges will not score that entry/category. 

You will receive an email letting you know that it has been received. You can edit your submission at any time up until the entry deadline by logging in to your account before the entry deadline of 21 February.

Finalists will be announced week commencing 21 April. Finalists will be notified by email and announcements will also be made on our social media channels. Please note there will be no shortlist announced for the Outstanding Contribution to the Industry category.

We will not systematically give feedback to all entrants because of the high volume of entries we receive, but we will endeavour to do so if you contact us directly via damla@thepienews.com. For finalists, if requested, we will provide a selected highlight from the judges' comments that you can use publicly.

Follow #PIEoneers25 on X and Instagram for updates prior to and during the awards ceremony.

Please email damla@thepienews.com or call Damla +44 (0)7864031980 with any questions you may have.