English
Our Yidan Prize cycle
October–March
Nominations open
April–September
Judging
Late September
Announcement
December
Ceremony
As a nominator, you need to be a ‘credible witness’ to the nominee or nominees’ impact by having a thorough understanding of their work.
You can nominate an individual, a team of up to three members, or even yourself.
If you’re nominating someone else or a team, you’ll need at least two and up to five recommendation letters. If you are nominating yourself, you’ll need at least three recommendation letters.
As a nominator, you need to be a ‘credible witness’ to the nominee or nominees’ impact by having a thorough understanding of their work.
You can nominate an individual, a team of up to three members, or even yourself.
If you’re nominating someone else or a team, you’ll need at least two and up to five recommendation letters. If you are nominating yourself, you’ll need at least three recommendation letters.
Who can make a nomination?
Our process is open to everyone — and you don't need to be invited. What we’re looking for are ‘credible witnesses’ to the nominees’ impact, so you need to have a thorough understanding of the work. Most of our nominators are members of government bodies, non-governmental organizations, or professional associations. Or they’re professional educators, respected figures in the sector, or work in the same organization or sphere as the nominee(s). But you don’t have to tick one of those boxes: we welcome nominations from all.
How to get started
Check you can make a nomination. See our few exceptions here.
Read our nomination guide and refer to our nomination form templates (Education Research and Education Development) — it'll really help.
Register for a nominator account. You'll find more support once you have access to our nomination platform, like a technical guide to help navigate the online submission process.
Find your supporters — judges are looking for external endorsement on the nominee or nominees’ work. You can include at most one supporter from the nominee or nominees’ organization. See who can’t be a supporter here.
Put together your nomination. There's a checklist to help (available in English, French/Français, Portuguese/Português, Simplified Chinese/简体中文, and Spanish/Español).
Visit our FAQ if you have any questions.
Submit. We'll keep you posted on any updates by email.
Please remember that all submissions must be made in English through our online nomination platform.
Nomination guide
How can nominees support their nominators/ the nominee’s part in the nomination process?
Nominees need to provide their nominator with a list of comprehensive information. Refer to checklist for the full list (available in English, French/Français, Portuguese/Português, Simplified Chinese/简体中文, and Spanish/Español). The requirements for research and development are slightly different.
Provide as much supporting documents as possible: evidence of your work in particular project sites; for research — documents/ articles/ links that show your research’s influence on policy and/ or practice; for development — external independent or internal evaluation reports on the work that showcases your impact. While these are optional, they’ll really help our judges understand the scale and impact of the work. There is a supporting documents section at the very end where nominators can upload additional info.
Make the most of the 2-minute video. This is your chance to speak straight to the judges as we don’t have an interview stage. Talk about your plan for the HK$15 million project fund and show your enthusiasm. Let the judges know about your project plan: the project stages, key milestones, project sites, the final outcomes, and what impact you hope to achieve. You only have two minutes — whether you’re a person or a team. For teams, we’d like to see all members on screen — judges would like to understand each of your roles.
Read our nomination guide (available in English, French/Français, Portuguese/Português, Simplified Chinese/简体中文, and Spanish/Español) and refer to our nomination form templates (Education Research and Education Development) — it'll really help.
Writing a letter of support
If you’re a supporter — this is what we need from you:
- Check you can support a nomination. See our few exceptions here.
- You’ll need to let the nominator know your personal details: full name; position and organization; postal address; cell phone number; and email.
- Write a recommendation letter (most letters are two pages in length, we set a limit of 5,000 words).
- It’s up to you how you’d like to explain the impact of the nominee’s work and why you’re recommending the nominee(s).
- You might have felt that impact personally or observed it in action.
- You can write about:
- your perspective on the nominee or nominees’ work
- the impact of the work that you’ve observed
- what potential you foresee in the work
- how you came to know the nominee(s) and their work.
Visit our FAQ if you have any questions.
More to explore
Our laureates
The Yidan Prize laureates are individuals and teams who have made significant contributions to improving education quality and expanding access to learning.
Our global community
We make greater, faster progress together. That's why we’re bringing people closer together, so we can speak with a shared voice on issues that matter in education.