Times Higher Education Awards is a annual academic recognizing excellence in Education. Organized by Times Higher Education, it covers the Europe region. Established in 2005.
The Times Higher Education Awards (THE Awards) have run since 2005 — the 2026 ceremony is the 22nd edition — and are organized by Times Higher Education, the London-based higher-education publication. They are open to anyone involved in higher education in the UK or Ireland (excluding sector-wide organizations), with 20 categories recognizing work from the most recent academic year across teaching, research projects, leadership and professional services teams. A panel of sector experts assesses the finalists and meets to choose the winners collectively, and THE's senior leadership team separately selects an Outstanding Achievement Award recipient.
Winning — or even shortlisting — carries real weight inside UK and Irish higher education: the shortlist is announced in early September and widely publicized, and winners are revealed at a large black-tie ceremony each November (26 November 2026 at The Vox in Birmingham; 2025 was held in Edinburgh). For universities the awards are institution-level marketing assets, and for the academics and professional teams named on entries they are a rare sector-wide individual and team recognition from the field's paper of record.
Entry is inexpensive but institutionally coordinated: £100 per entry for an institution's first five submissions, capped at £500 regardless of how many entries it makes, with a unique submission required per category. Entries open in April and close in early June (8 June 2026 for the current cycle), covering work from the prior academic year — projects begun earlier qualify if significant work happened in the eligible period. Strong entries read like evidence briefs, documenting concrete institutional or student impact with hard numbers inside the word limits, so coordinate early with your institution's planning or communications office to secure data and avoid duplicate category bids.