Yidan Prize is a annual recognition recognizing excellence in Education. Organized by Yidan Prize Foundation, it covers the Global region. Established in 2016.
The Yidan Prize was founded in 2016 by Charles Chen Yidan, co-founder of Tencent, and is run by the Hong Kong-based Yidan Prize Foundation, financed and governed by an independent trust of around HK$2.5 billion (about US$320 million). It has recognized laureates annually since 2017 in two categories: the Yidan Prize for Education Research, for researchers whose work strengthens teaching and learning, and the Yidan Prize for Education Development, for leaders advancing practice through innovative interventions. An independent judging committee with a dedicated panel for each category reviews nominations and selects the laureates.
Each category's laureate — an individual or a team of up to three — receives a gold medal, a cash prize of HK$15 million (shared equally for teams), and a HK$15 million project fund paid over three years to scale their work, a total of HK$30 million per category that has led the prize to be described as the largest education prize on Earth. Laureates are announced in late September and celebrated at a December ceremony, and recent laureates include Professor Uri Wilensky and Mamadou Amadou Ly (2025). For education researchers and system-level practitioners, it sits at the very top of the field's honors alongside a project fund large enough to change an organization's trajectory.
Nominations are open to everyone — no invitation is required — and are submitted in English through the foundation's online platform, typically opening in October and closing in early March (the 2026 round closed on 3 March 2026, 12:00 noon HKT). Third-party nominations need two supporter recommendation letters; self-nominations are allowed but need three. Nominators should be credible witnesses to the nominee's work (educators, NGO leaders, officials or sector professionals), and strong nominations pair rigorous evidence of impact at scale with a concrete, credible plan for how the project fund would extend that impact.