A benefit of CoLRiC membership is the eligibility to nominate a team or individual for our two national awards. Every year we issue a call for nominations that demonstrate the quality, excellence and organisational impact of service provision on the teaching, learning and student experience.
We’re keen to encourage you to highlight your creativity, enthusiasm and proactivity in the delivery of library and learning resource services, and are delighted to announce that nominations for 2025 are now open for the:
- CoLRiC Innovative Practice Award (CIPA)
- Jeff Cooper Inspirational Information Professional of the Year Award
All nominations will be reviewed, scored and shortlisted by a judging panel comprising external library and information services experts and members of CoLRiC’s Management Committee. The panel will be looking for commitment to student academic and personal development and lifelong learning alongside engagement with academic staff, curriculum colleagues, professional services and students.
CIPA is a team award and is sponsored by IS Oxford. It celebrates innovative teamworking, imaginative and exceptional service developments and projects. Emma Duffield, Sales Manager at IS Oxford and a Library and Information Management Consultant, will be the external judge.
The Jeff Cooper Inspirational Information Professional of the Year Award is sponsored by LapSafe® and named in honour of CoLRiC’s founder. It will be presented to an outstanding and enthusiastic individual who has a proven commitment to library and learning resource services, student support and development. The nominee could work at any level in the service, from a library assistant to a senior manager. Special thanks go to Michael Kilby, Senior Account Manager at LapSafe®, for being the external judge for this award.
Nominations can take any shape, size or form- you just have to be a CoLRiC member
Nominations can be as flexible as you like, from a major library project to a business-as-usual service enhancement that has generated positive feedback and encouraged student participation and engagement.
We’re aware that there are loads of examples of good practice out there. Please take some time out to celebrate your hard work by submitting a nomination for either of both awards. We’re looking for imaginative and inspiring contributions of any kind.
The judging panel will consider nominations in support of any resource or service. Examples include AI, digital/information literacy, academic development, reading and numeracy, marketing and social media, physical and digital study environments, student and teaching staff engagement, contributions to curriculum and course planning and learning resources development and management, for example.
Give it a go!
Previous participating colleges have expressed how beneficial the award process was for them in providing an uplifting opportunity to document and highlight their achievements.
What will you get out of this?
There will be a fanfare, publicity, certificates and engraved glass trophies for all winning and highly commended submissions, and we will publish your achievements in a press release across national and local FE news and social media that you can share with your marketing department. You will also be invited to contribute an article to our quarterly publication CoLRiC Impact and present at one of our online seminars.
A substantial outcome of awards success is the opportunity for you to raise the profile of your library and learning resources service with college leadership; everybody from chief executives to directors and managers.
How do you submit?
- Any college library/learning resources service that is a current member of CoLRiC is eligible to submit a nomination for either or both awards
- Management Committee members cannot nominate although library/learning resources colleagues at their organisation can
- Submissions must be authorised by the Head of Service and Vice Principal (or equivalent). If the Head of Service nominates (or is excluded from nominating) the submission must be authorised by the Vice Principal (or equivalent).
- The CoLRiC Admin Team will email you the award guidelines and a submission form on request.
If you require further advice and information about joining CoLRiC, please contact us at: colric@colric.org.uk.
You can read about previous winners here.
Timelines
- Submissions are open from Wednesday 7th May 2025
- The closing date is 6 pm on Friday 18th July 2025
- Successful colleges will be notified by the middle of August
- Publicity will be launched in September.