Category Archives: Educate-North

ITV’s Ranvir Singh to host 2025 Educate North Awards

ITV journalist Ranvir Singh, presenter of the 2025 Educate North Awards.

ITV’s popular presenter Ranvir Singh is to return north to host the 11th Educate North Awards on Thursday 3rd April 2025 at The Hilton Hotel in Manchester.

The special night celebrates the world class achievements of the north’s university and higher education sectors as well as the advancement and achievements of sixth form and further education colleges from the west to east coast.

The names of 3 winners nominated by the listeners of Smooth and Heart will also be unveiled, and 4 students or graduates will compete in the University Entrepreneurs Grant (UEG) pitching their new business ideas with the winner walking away with a £1000 prize and the chance to be mentored at an award-winning business school.
‘This year the judges from across the north and UK have a really tough challenge’ said creator Rob McLoughlin OBE, ‘the quality and depth of the entries are more and more impressive year-on-year and the prestige of the event has seen the competition become much harder. All of that against a backdrop of challenges and even insecurity across the sector’.

He continued; ‘It’s a real night to celebrate and we are delighted to welcome Ranvir to the ENAs, she not only launched her tremendous career in the north but was also educated at 2 of our most successful universities and has been entwined in the sector since 2017 when she became Chancellor of UCLAN (University of Central Lancashire)’.
The ‘Good Morning Britain’ presenter said, ‘I can’t wait to meet the entrants and the winners of this prestigious and exciting event, I know first-hand, the commitment of so many academics, students and the business teams which face the challenges of the sector every day and yet produce superb results and outstanding breakthroughs‘.
‘I wish all entrants good luck and as for the independent judges – they’ll be having some sleepless nights before their deliberations’.

For further details click here to visit the Educate North website.

The 2025 event is supported by CommunicorpUK owners of Smooth North West: Smooth North East and Heart Yorkshire. Official Patrons are University of Manchester, Liverpool John Moores University and John Kennedy CBE. Sponsors include Interact, IT Capital and Mindful Education as well as Liverpool Hope University.

The 2025 UEG will be presented by Actor Jesscia Pardoe.

The event is staged by RM Communications and produced by Rowan Scahill. The judging is led by Emeritus Professor Phil Harris and Emeritus Professor Ruth Ashford.

Educate North Awards reveals the best in education for 2024

The University of Manchester, celebrating its 200th anniversary, was named ‘University of the Year’ during a prestigious event at The Hilton hotel in Manchester on Thursday 18th April 2024.

Judges, drawn from across business and academia, highlighted Manchester’s superb standing and achievements across the North and globally with an Alumni totalling 500,000 worldwide.

Broadcaster, Rob McLoughlin OBE founder of the Awards paid tribute to the winners, nominees and the team which produced the ceremony stating; ‘This is the North showing itself to be global leaders, superb educationalists and locally as well as universally focussed’.

‘The ENAs have grown in prestige and stature, and we’ve enjoyed record numbers of entries as well as an astonishing response from the radio audiences. We want it grow and encourage more enterprise, breakthroughs, and superb educational outcomes for the North and for the UK as a whole’.

2024 sponsors were Masood Entrepreneurship Centre at Alliance Manchester Business School, IT Capital, Interact, Pilot Group, The Protocol Group, CCUK owners of Smooth NW, Smooth NE, Heart Yorkshire, Protocol, Voiceworks (also part of CCUK) and John Kennedy CBE is Official Patron.


For more details see the report on the Smooth Radio and Heart websites:

https://campaign.smoothradio.com/educate-north-2024

https://campaign.heart.co.uk/educate-north-awards-2024-winners

Entrepreneurs back Educate North Awards

Four would-be entrepreneurs from universities across the North of England will once again face more than 400 academics, managers, guests, and industry leaders as they pitch their new business idea and wait for the audience to decide the winner.

The University Entrepreneurs Grant (UEG) will return on Thursday 18th April 2024 as part of the prestigious Educate North Awards and the winner will walk away with a £1000 prize to write a business plan and the chance to be mentored at the acclaimed Masood Entrepreneurship Centre (MEC) based at the Alliance Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester.

To read more from FE News, click here.

10th Educate North Awards – nominations open for 2024

The 10th Educate North Awards will be held on Thursday, 18 April 2024 and nominations are open now.

As before, the categories will include a broad range of education establishments, from universities to sixth form, with special awards for teachers and business entrepreneurs.

Founder of the Awards, Rob McLoughlin OBE, said:


“The 10th event is a wonderful achievement.

“Education needs political and public support like never before and this Northern showcase has grown and grown thanks to a unique combination of committed judges from across business and academia, from a wonderful range of commercial sponsors and supporters and partners which cross broadcasting, AI technology and education itself.

“We look forward to celebrating all the nominees in April of 2024.”

For more details of the Awards, click here to read the report from the FE News website.

2023 Educate North Award Winners Announced

The winners of this year’s Educate North Award have been announced. Lancaster University wins the University of the Year Award and Birkenhead Sixth Form College wins Further education College of the Year.

For full details of these and the other winners in a wide range of categories, visit https://educatenorth.co.uk/2023-winners/

Superb shortlist unveiled for prestigious awards

Educate North has unveiled a ‘superb’ shortlist for 2023 Awards in Manchester on 27th April 2023.

A record number of entries has led to a high quality field across a range of categories and from institutions and individuals across the North of England.


Tickets now on sale via www.educatenorth.co.uk and the Awards dinner is held at the Midland Hotel Manchester on 27 April 2023.

To view the Educate North Awards 2023 shortlist, click here: 
https://educatenorth.co.uk/2023-shortlist/

NORTH’S MOST PRESTIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL AWARDS RETURN FOR 2022

They are the most prestigious and highly competitive educational awards in the North of England and now they are back and open for entries for 2022.

The Educate North Awards will see the North’s University, Higher Education and Sixth Form sectors compete across a range of specialist categories for the honour of picking up a sought-after trophy and being celebrated by their peers and expert judges drawn from across the region and the UK.

The awards dinner will be live again and will feature special guests and music and will be staged at The Midland Hotel in Manchester on Thursday 7th April 2022.

The categories and entry details are now available on the Educate North website.

Edge Hill University in West Lancashire was named University of the Year at a special online presentation in April this year before being named ‘Modern University of the Year’ by The Sunday Times.

Other winners included The University of Bradford, Newcastle University, Preston’s College, University of Manchester and institutions in Leeds and Chester.

The special Radio Awards, chosen by the listeners of Smooth (North West), Smooth (North East) and Heart (Yorkshire) will also return and continue to acknowledge outstanding contributions during the covid crisis.

‘The Educate North Awards are exceptionally competitive and cover the entire region celebrating resilience, improvement, achievement and excellence’ said Emeritus Professor Phil Harris, the Head of Judges; ’Now with radio listeners to 3 of the top stations in the country participating the profile and excitement around the competition and event is intensifying and growing’.

In the coming weeks more details about the Radio Awards, the entrepreneur competitions and the special live guests will be announced.

Educate North Awards were founded by the broadcaster Rob McLoughlin OBE and are sponsored by The Masood Entrepreneurship Centre at the University of Manchester, The Pilot Group, CCL Digital, IT Capital, Heart Yorkshire, Smooth North West, Smooth North East, CommunicorpUK and John Kennedy CBE.

They are run in association with Why Events, Don’t Panics and have been supported by Prolific North.

Full details on the Educate North website.

Educate North Awards 2021

To mark the sacrifices by the education sector, students, lecturers and academic staff during the Covid crisis, Educate North teamed up with listeners to three popular radio stations Smooth North West, Heart Yorkshire and Smooth North East. 

Listeners inundated the stations with nominations for outstanding individuals or organisations in 3 new categories. The results saw one teacher dance and jig in his classroom as he became a winner.

Professor Tony Young, Head of Clinical Innovation for NHS England also announced 3 nominations for a special Health Award. This was won by The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine along with its partners at The University of Liverpool and NHS Hospitals Trust.

Among the many winners was Edge Hill in Ormskirk, Lancashire, which was awarded overall University of the Year in recognition of its continued commitment to deliver an exceptional student experience. 

The University was awarded the coveted top prize for the exceptional progress it has made to deliver investment and innovation over the past 12 months and its dedication to placing students at the heart of everything it does. 

The University of Cumbria’s Festival of Mental Health won the community engagement award.

The Festival is a celebration of wellbeing and offers help and support to all through its array of workshops including gardening, mindfulness, yoga and creative arts. There is also an art festival, talks, and a ‘marketplace’ of local charities, organisations and institutions.

Raising funds for local charities, the festival’s patron is Wigton-born author, broadcaster and peer Melvyn Bragg, who is an honorary fellow of the university and a past president of the national charity Mind.

Coinciding with World Mental Health Day every October, the Festival of Mental Health strengthens the University of Cumbria’s role as a leading training provider of nursing and other health professionals across the region and beyond.

The Principle of Birkenhead Sixth Form College, Mike Kilbride, was honoured with the national award for outstanding leadership. The ‘UK Leadership Award’ was given in recognition of significant achievements in leading Birkenhead Sixth Form College on a complete journey of transformation, not least being rated as outstanding in all areas by Ofsted.

The college has been shortlisted once again for the UK Sixth Form College of the Year by TES Awards, formerly the Times Education Supplement.

It won the award just three years ago and this year’s shortlisting cements their place as a national leader in Further Education.

Although the Educate North Awards ceremony was honouring 2020 winners, with last year’s celebration being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, circumstances of the last year and more have brought into stark light the qualities of leadership required to deal with young people’s education and the deficits that they have endured during various lockdowns.

Both staff and students at the College have benefitted from what they called Mr Kilbride’s ‘strong, passionate and thoughtful’ leadership, and his communication with all parties about the direction he was steering the College through the pandemic has been highly praised by parents, with one saying it was ‘first class’.

Accepting the UK Leadership Award, Mike Kilbride said: “It’s obviously personally very gratifying to be recognised for the work that you’ve done over many years, but you can’t have success as a leader without a fantastic team behind you.”

The Educate North Awards are organised by Carm Productions in conjunction with partners John Kennedy CBE, CCL Digital, the Masood Entrepreneurship Centre, The Pilot Group, Communicorp UK, Heart Yorkshire, Smooth North West and Smooth North East. You can view the streamed ceremony below.

2021 University Entrepreneurs Grant winners

The winner of the University Entrepreneurs Grant, as chosen by Dr Jacob Salder and Phil Hodari, was revealed on March 4th. The University Entrepreneurs Grant is part of the Educate North Awards, the regional awards ceremony for FE and HE institutions.

The finalists are the University of Chester’s Jade Rice, two entrants from Manchester – Dr Mohammad El Hajj and Riddi Varshitaa Viswanathan – plus the University of York’s Nihad Cehic.

The announcement was made via three northern radio stations– Heart Yorkshire, Smooth North West and Smooth North East -and an online video. The usual ceremony was moved online because of the current pandemic.

Rob McLoughlin, broadcaster and organiser of Educate North and the UEG, said: “The competitors have worked hard during lockdown to make their pitches and to try and grab the attention of the judges. Normally the contestants have to face the live audience at the fabulous awards ceremony but because of restrictions we’ve taken it online and the standard is high and the judging tense. The competitors are impressive and the scale of the ideas tremendous.”

For more details and the video announcement of the winner, visit the Prolific North page.

Virtual Educate North awards 2021

The annual Educate North Awardswill be moving online for the ceremony on 22 April 2021. The awards are organised by Rob McLoughlin’s Carm Productionsand will be hosted by Jim Hancock, former Political Editor of Granada TV and BBC North West.

Further details of this year’s awards are given on the Prolific North website.