British Academy Schools Language Awards

The British Academy Schools Language Awards is aimed at secondary schools in the UK. It promotes language learning and teaching.

Two awards of £4,000 will be given to projects in 7 UK regions - one for languages taught in mainstream secondary schools and one for complementary/supplementary schools. A National Award of an additional £4,000 will be given to the best overall project.

Awards will be given to projects that promote language learning by finding creative ways to improve the quality of language teaching and motivating students.

Casualty actress Sunetra Sarker, who plays Dr Zoe Hanna in the long-running BBC medical drama, explains why she’s supporting the campaign:

'Learning a language in secondary school enabled me to study French at university. I studied and worked in France for a year with my degree and had one of the best years of my life. The British Academy Schools Language Awards are a great initiative to promote the benefits of learning a foreign language – it can open up so many opportunities for youngsters.'

The British Academy will announce the winners in the autumn and Sunetra will present the prizes at a ceremony in London.

Award criteria

• Awards open to secondary schools in the UK (11 – 16 age group);
• Both new and longer-running projects that are innovative*, sustainable** and replicable/extendable***, will be considered;
• Projects must have run for at least 6 to 12 months;
• Measurable projections of the actual and potential impact of the project are required;
• Follow-up reporting: award winners are required to report on progress made after 12 months time;
• A video clip of up to 3 minutes is also desirable.

*By ‘innovative’, we mean: incentivise language learning by finding creative ways of promoting languages, improving the quality of teaching, and motivating students.

**By ‘sustainable’, we mean: projects that are embedded in other activities within the school/curriculum.

***By ‘replicable/extendable’, we mean: projects with features that allow for replication in other schools, including developing or extending linkages to other schools in the area.

The deadline for applications is 30th March 2012. Click here to apply.

If you have any queries, please email ba_awards@cfbt.com.

The British Academy in collaboration with CfBT