Education research awards and recognition initiatives

Faculty of Education Awards for Excellence and Recognition 2024

The Faculty of Education Awards for Excellence and Recognition include the Dean’s Honours List for students, Student Donor Prizes, SAGE Award for Service, Professional Staff Awards, Research Awards, and Teaching & Learning Awards to celebrate the diverse individual and collective achievements that contribute to the realisation of the Faculty of Education’s Mission, Vision, Goals, and Objectives.

2024 Faculty of Education Award Winners

Professional Staff Award for Service

Sandra Kenny

Manager, Educational Professional Experience

The Professional Staff Award for Service recognises professional staff who go above and beyond to provide exceptional service, or to ensure continuity in extraordinary circumstances, to colleagues and/or students.

Professional Staff Award for Innovation and Improvement

Renee Hogben

Senior Professional Experience Coordinator

The Professional Staff Award for Innovation and Improvement recognises professional staff for implementing change/s to our practices that have had a positive impact.

Olivera Kamenarac receiving an award from Prof Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles — Professor Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles with Dr Olivera Kamenarac

Educator of the Year

2023/2024 Educator(s) of the Year Award goes to the academic staff members within the Faculty that received the highest mean student feedback based on the teaching feedback metrics for the last 12 months.

The Educator of the Year Award will be split into two categories:

Aleksandr Taylor-Gough - Small to Medium units.
Dr Olivera Kamenarac -Large units.

Amy Mills accepts an award from Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles — Amy Mills accepts her award from Professor Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles

Commendation for Teaching Excellence

2023/2024 Commendation for Teaching Excellence Award goes to the academic staff members within the Faculty that received the second-highest mean student feedback based on the teaching feedback metrics for the last 12 months.

The Commendation for Teaching Excellence Award will be split into two categories:

Tim Barringham, Cassie Williams, Alan Foster and Dr Carla Valerio - Small to medium units.
Amy Mills - Large units.

Wendy Boyd receiving an award from Prof Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles — Professor Wendy Boyd accepts her award from Professor Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles

2023 Researcher of the Year

Professor Wendy Boyd

Associate Dean (Education)

Determined by the most number of registered HERDC publications, successful external grants and HDR completions.

Commendation for Research Excellence

Professor David Lynch

Commendation of registered HERDC publications, successful external grants and HDR completions.

2023 Early Career Researcher of the Year

Dr Alicia Phillips

Lecturer

Determined by the most number of registered HERDC publications, successful external grants and HDR completions.

Michelle Neumann receives an award from Prof Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles — Associae Professor Michelle Neumann accepts her award from Professor Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles

2023/2024 Outstanding Research Publication

Associate Professor Michelle Neumann

Best ERA eligible publication by a staff member as determined by the Faculty's Research Committee.

Soyoof, A., Reynolds, B. L., Neumann, M., Scull, J., Tour, E., & McLay, K. (2024). The impact of parent mediation on young children's home digital literacy practices and learning: A narrative review. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 40(1), 65-88. by authors Soyoof, A., Reynolds, B. L., Associate Professor Michelle Neumann, M., Scull, J., Tour, E., & McLay, K. (2024).

2023/2024 Outstanding HDR Research Publication

Frances Barr

HDR Candidate

Best ERA eligible publication by a Higher Degree Research (HDR) candidate as determined by the Faculty's Research Committee.

"Student voice, not student echoes: increasing inclusive learning for students experiencing mild to moderate intellectual disabilities" published by International Journal of Inclusive Education, 1-21 by authors Frances Barr, Yeigh, T., & Markopoulos, C. (2023).

Simone Blom receives an award from Prof Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles — Dr Simone Blom accepts her award from Professor Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles

Commendation for HDR Supervision

Dr Simone Blom

Commendation for HDR Supervision by a staff member as determined by the Faculty's Research Committee.

Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles presents SAGE award to Amy Norman — Professor Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles with Amy Norman

SAGE Award for Service

This award acknowledges the service of the Student Advisory Group for Education (SAGE) leadership team in their efforts to form a diverse and passionate community of students.

January to June 2024

Riley Barrett - President
Bridget Brosi - Vice-President
Luke Hammond - Secretary

July to December 2024

Amy Norman - President
Luke Hammond - Vice-President
Savannah Shepherd Juniel - Secretary

Professor Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles and Deborah Fuhrmann

Byron Writers Festival Prize

The Byron Writers Festival Prize is awarded to an Associate Degree of Creative Writing graduate with a GPA of 5.5-6.0 (Distinction Average) for the prior year (2022). The winner of the award is invited to the annual awards evening to receive acknowledgement of their hard work and dedication to achieving academic excellence in Creative Writing.

The winner of the 2023 Byron Writers Festival Prize was Deborah Fuhrmann.

Kylie and Amy smiling at the camera — Kylie Meyers with Professor Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles

Mentor Teacher Award

The Mentor Teacher Award and the Mentor Teacher Commendation Award goes to a mentor teacher who has demonstrated outstanding mentoring and support of our Faculty of Education pre-service teachers.

Mentor Teacher Award

Kylie Meyers - St Andrews Lutheran College – Tallebudgera

Mentor Teacher Commendation Award

Sheena Mortimer - Yamba Public School

Dean's Honour's List

The Dean’s Honours List acknowledges outstanding academic achievement within the Faculty of Education. The list is compiled from Undergraduate and Postgraduate students, including the Professional Doctorate, Honours and master's by coursework, who have achieved a Grade Point Average of 6.5 or above from Term 4 2023 to Term 3 2024.

Associate Degree of Creative Writing
Tracy Ward, and Kylie Evans.

Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Education (Primary/Early Childhood)
Anna Morris

Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Education (Secondary)
Harriet Hooper, Samira Lawson, and Erin McBride.

Bachelor of Early Childhood Education
Chantelle Walker, Benjamin Hockey, Holly Adamson, and Bridget Brosi.

Bachelor of Education
Rachel Denis, Rowena Drew, Mitchell Smith, Brooke Bignell-Cowan, Amy Fletcher, Victoria Clark, Krystal-Lee Macrae, Alysha Burley, Kerry-anne Cowdell, Sarah McDonald, Melissa Gill, Kayla Orphin, Ashleigh Larrescy, Sophie Cracknell, Cameron Pratt, Rachel Mott, Mikaela Prichard, Bethany Ferguson, Gypsy Forrest, Elise Hill, Kristy Thorne, Morgane Guiet, Mirani Astawa, Shona Humphris, Joanne Symes, Karen Hill, Kym Bambrook, Ines De Aguiar Coqueiro Soares, Dylan Crockett, Victoria Smalley, Sarah Venn, Amelia Booth-Barker, Lucy Ward, Izaac Hillery, Rachelle Stevens, Kirsty West, Robert Lucivero, Emily Markwell, Dean Power, Daniel Ashton, Kevin Casey, Phoebe Stanley, Sarah Maddock, Brooke Surawski, Helen Edwards, Grace Koster, Emma Smith, Malaika Taylor, Mele Pahulu, Kirsty Bell, Timothy Browne, Maddison Giggins, Anders Glew, Crystal Bajada, Jessica Welsh, Bradon Behan, Amie Geer, Meredith Palmer, Caleb Hogbin, Sarah Lindo, Michaela McGregor, Jacinta Desmond, Chelsea Roberts, Kiara Rose, Olivia Stanborough, Kate Hulbert, Isaac Matthews, Rachelle Johnston, and Talisha Lilley.

Bachelor of Education with Honours
Cassie Williams

Graduate Diploma in Education (Early Childhood)
Rosalia Noble, Stefanie Ammann, Tiana Carnemolla, Rachel Schutt, Caitlin McGaughey, Shara Griggs, Jacqueline Catherina Jacob Chukkiriyan, and Raziya Rashid.

Master of Education
Saurabh Bhattacharya, Claire Shannon, and Peter Robertson.

Master of Teaching
Cameron Spike-Porter, Alice Burnet, Alexandra Emanuel, Georgia King, Steven Wenzel, Ashlee Nelson, Megan Penfold, Madeleine Doak, Samantha Ingleby, Cheryl Wright, Tasmin Archak, Carla Simpson, Sarah Strid, Huan Shen, Laksmi Torres Valencia, Aimee Sulzberger, Imogen Holt, Melissa Welsh, and Dayna Williams.

Student Donor Prizes

Primary English Teaching Association Australia English Excellence Award

Gold Coast: Lahni Biggins

Lismore: Emma Fitzpatrick

Coffs Harbour: Rachelle Stevens

Online: Kym Bambrook

Early Childhood Outstanding Student of the Year

Josie Hockey

Byron Writers Festival Prize

Deborah Fuhrmann

Bishop Druitt College Wellbeing Education Prize

Thomas Gray

Bishop Druitt College Arts Education Prize