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Nominations open for the 2025 President’s Distinguished Achievement Awards

19 Sep 2024

Nominations are open – this is your opportunity to recognise your colleagues for making an outstanding contribution to our University

Distinguished Achievement Awards 2024

Do you know a colleague or team who has made an outstanding contribution to our University? Are they always willing to put in whatever it takes to get a job done? Or do they always provide an excellent service or go out of their way to help someone or to solve a problem?

This is your opportunity to recognise their efforts by putting them forward for a President’s Distinguished Achievement Award 2025.

Duncan Ivison, President and Vice-Chancellor said: “This is my first opportunity to introduce the President’s Distinguished Achievement Awards for 2025. It’s so important we come together to recognise the amazing work of our colleagues. These awards give us the chance to celebrate the incredible people across our University who consistently go above and beyond.

"Although I’ve only been here a short time, I’m already inspired by the dedication, creativity, and hard work of our colleagues. Now, I’m asking for your support to shine a light on those who deserve recognition.

"Nominations are now open for the 2025 Distinguished Achievement Awards, and it’s quick and easy to have your say. It’s a great way to let people know their efforts haven’t gone unnoticed. No matter their role —whether they’re part of a team or working individually — let’s take this opportunity to celebrate their commitment to our University.”


About the Distinguished Achievement Awards 2025

These are the University’s most prestigious internal awards. They take place annually and recognise the outstanding work of colleagues and teams across the University.

Award categories include:

  • Professional Services and Cultural Institutions’ individuals and teams of the year.
  • Researchers of the Year
  • Postgraduate Researchers of the Year
  • Postgraduate Taught Students of the Year
  • Undergraduate Students of the Year
  • Teachers of the Year

There is also a ‘General’ category for the truly exceptional times when other categories are not appropriate. 

Nominations must be made by Friday 7 February, 2025, and the President and Vice-Chancellor will present the awards  at a ceremony in The Whitworth Hall on Friday, 3 July 2025.

How to nominate a colleague for a Distinguished Achievement Award

Academic and student categories of the Distinguished Achievement Awards

The awards for Researcher, Postgraduate Researcher, Postgraduate Taught Student, Undergraduate, and Teacher are co-ordinated by Faculties – so keep a close eye on your local channels for more information on how to nominate in these categories.

Professional Services and Cultural Institutions’ category

For the Professional Services and Cultural Institutions’ category there are three individual awards and two team awards.

If you know someone in Professional Services (PS), Museum, Gallery or at the Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre, make your nomination by filling out the appropriate form below. You can submit a nomination using either an online form, or by completing the Word document version and sending it to deborah.black@manchester.ac.uk.

In addition, for the first time, you can choose to submit a video or audio recorded nomination. Details of how to do this can be found at the bottom of the either the word versions of the nomination forms.

Guidance on what to cover in your nomination can be found here.

General category of the Distinguished Achievement Awards 

The General category is to be used only on very rare occasions when the other categories of awards are not appropriate. In such cases a member or staff, a student, lay member of the Board of Governors or close affiliate of the University can be nominated. The General category is designed to recognise sustained and/or exceptional service to the University which is over and above what it normally expected of someone as part of their job, role or course.  

For more information on nominations in this category, please read:

More information