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The Victorian Early Years Awards (VEYA) are back to celebrate the professionals, teams and organisations improving the health, learning, development and wellbeing of Victorian children and their families.
You can nominate yourself, a colleague or an early childhood leader, service or organisation demonstrating leadership, outstanding achievement or exceptional dedication.
Winners of each category will receive a grant of $15,000 to further develop their initiatives (and share the learnings of their approaches) or to support their professional development.
The finalists and winners in each category are also eligible to win the prestigious Minister’s Award, selected by the Minister for Children, with the winner receiving a $15,000 grant.
With the year in full swing, there’s never been a better time to recognise and celebrate the great work happening every day in the early childhood sector.
Nominations close Thursday 13 June 2024, so start looking for those early childhood champions who deserve to have their accomplishments put up in bright lights!
Recognising dedication and skill
The 9 VEYA categories focus on the following themes:
- improving engagement in early learning
- supporting parents and carers in their role as their child’s first teacher
- building collaborative community partnerships
- improving child health and wellbeing
- supporting continuity of early learning through successful transitions
- recognising an early childhood teacher who demonstrates exemplary practice in early childhood education
- significant improvement in learning and teaching practices
- recognising the importance of Aboriginal inclusion and perspectives in ensuring all services are accessible to Koorie children and families
- recognising early childhood educators who make a vital contribution to early childhood services and children’s learning outcomes.
How to nominate
Anyone can nominate someone for a VEYA, and you can even nominate yourself!
Early childhood teachers, educators, educational leaders, early childhood services, organisations or primary schools making a difference to the lives of children aged from birth to 8 are all eligible.
To nominate, refer to Victorian Early Years Awards(opens in a new window).
Application support
If you want to know how to make your VEYA application stand out from the crowd, you can head along to a free webinar on Wednesday 15 May 2024.
Event details
Date: Wednesday 15 May 2024
Time: 4:15 pm to 5:15 pm
Platform: online
Cost: free.
To register, visit free webinar.
If you can’t get along to the webinar but would like feedback on your application, send a copy, along with your application ID number, to the Victorian Early Years Awards team by email: early.years.awards@education.vic.gov.au(opens in a new window)
Find out more
For more information, refer to Victorian Early Years Awards.
To read about our previous finalists and winners, refer to Victorian Early Years Awards winners.
For further enquiries, contact Vicki Elliott, senior project officer, Workforce Retention and Recognition team:
- phone: (03) 4113 7467
- email: early.years.awards@education.vic.gov.au(opens in a new window)
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