Tell us your Bradford education heroes ahead of 2017 awards

The awards, which will take place in March, were set up to recognise the work that goes on all the time in Bradford’s schools, and celebrate the people who dedicate their lives to improving the chances of the district’s young people.

For the past few weeks we have been asking our readers to let us know who they feel should be recognised for their hard work. There are 12 different categories that represent the full spectrum of school life.

As well as best primary and secondary school teachers and school leaders, the awards recognise volunteers who work in schools, partnerships between schools and groups such as businesses or arts organisations and governors who work behind the scenes to make a school great.

So far we have been inundated with nominations from parents, pupils, schools themselves, and members of the wider community, with the Primary Teacher of the Year category proving particularly popular, with dozens of nominations.

But we still want more nominations so we can have as strong a field of potential nominees as possible to go before the judging panel in the new year. This panel will come up with a shortlist of three nominees per category with the winners announced at a black-tie awards ceremony, held at the Aagrah Midpoint in Thornbury in March and attended by hundreds of people from schools, sponsors and education partners.

The awards started as a partnership between the T&A, Bradford Council, the University of Bradford, and several other education and business partners and has gone from strength to strength since the first event in 2014.

Since then, 36 awards have been given out to people from a variety of backgrounds, who perform a host of different functions in the district’s hundreds of schools.

As well as school staff, we want the awards to recognise school projects, voluntary works done by pupils and staff in the community, and the work of governors, and so are making a last call for readers to get their nominations in.

Previous winners have included new teachers who have made an instant impact, heads who have helped educate hundreds of young pupils over years of leadership, and even a project that helped pupils learn more about Shakespeare.

We are particularly eager to get more nominations in categories like Science and Technology, Business in Schools, which celebrates links between schools and outside organisations, and Voluntary Contribution categories, all categories that provide a showcase to achievements that are often overlooked.

For more details of what we are looking for in each category, to make a nomination, or to see who won last year’s awards, visit our website’s special Schools Awards section here.

Nominations will close at 6pm on Friday December 23.