FAQs

Any school located in the ASEAN region or businesses that provide services to schools within the region are eligible to apply for the ASEAN School Awards. This includes both public and private institutions as well as non-school entities like education suppliers and experiential learning providers.

The 10 countries in the ASEAN region include:

  • Brunei Darussalam
  • Cambodia
  • Indonesia
  • Laos (Lao People’s Democratic Republic)
  • Malaysia
  • Myanmar
  • Philippines
  • Singapore
  • Thailand
  • Vietnam

The awards are open to schools that are physically located in the ASEAN or for businesses that operate (service schools) in the ASEAN countries.

The ASEAN region is the fastest growing and dynamic regions in the world. It would be the 5th largest country measured by its combined GDP. It has a dynamic young population with over 50% of the population under 30 and an expanding middle class that are interested in high quality education.  These awards are designed to showcase and promote innovation and excellence in education in this dynamic and interconnected part of the world as well as to provide a platform for sharing and collaboration between schools that are part of a dynamic region that will help shape the 21st Century.

No fees are required to apply for the award. The only cost to schools/applicants is to attend the ASEAN School Awards Gala Dinner. It is required for nominated entities to send at least one representative to the Gala Dinner to witness the announcement of winners.

Anyone involved in Education is also welcome purchase a ticket to attend. More details about the Gala Dinner to be announced soon.

All nominees will have to purchase their tickets to the Gala dinner, where we will spotlight their applications during the event and announce the winner LIVE for each award category. Winners and finalists will be invited for photo op with the distinguished judges. Nominees should send at least one representative to the Gala Dinner.

The Gala Dinner is also open to anyone involved in Education to attend. More details about the Gala Dinner will be announced soon.

The language of award submission is English.

These awards are organized by 21C Learning (21CL), a Hong Kong-registered company in cooperation with its partners. 21CL has a long history of bringing together educational innovators through their conferences and events throughout the region. They also previously ran the prestigious Innovative Educator and Innovative Teacher Awards which were sponsored globally by Pearson. The most recent successful awards event is the GBA School Awards 2025. Read more here.

Yes, absolutely.

The awards will be judged in three stages.

  • The first stage is the online application and entrants will be shortlisted based on the strength of their submission form and supporting video. You will be contacted by us to confirm if you have been shortlisted. Depending on the number of applicants for an award category we may split the category into Primary / Secondary awards or Primary or K-12 Awards. If an award category does not receive enough submissions it is possible that category may not advance to the next stage.
  • Once the shortlists for each awards category are finalized, the judging panel for each award is given the opportunity to ask questions of the schools. This will be done asynchronously via documents.
  • Next, once the schools have provided brief answers to these questions, the judges will submit their scores and feedback; and winners will be chosen based on the score submitted.

The decision of the judges is final. The organizers and judges reserve the right to re-classify, re-categorise, or reject any entry that does not comply with the requirements of the awards.

Entries will only be judged based on the information provided to the judges on the entry form and the additional supporting videos submitted.

Judges are requested to declare an interest and remove themselves from the process if they are asked to judge an entry that poses a conflict of interest.

Yes, you may submit the same application into multiple award categories as long as your submission is relevant to each of them. If you do intend to submit into multiple categories, do note that the Application Form only accommodates one award category selection per submission, thus you will need to fill in the form every time you select a different category.

The award submission can represent just one particular initiative your school leading/engaging in. For example, for the School Library Award, it could be for a new student leadership initiative in a particular school library (if you have Early Year/Primary/Secondary libraries). Or the Experiential Learning Award, it could be for a program that impacts only on a particular grade level for example.

Once submitted, applications cannot be edited. Please ensure all documents and materials are final before submitting. 

Due to the large number of submissions, we are unable to provide individual feedback to all applicants.

No, these awards have no official relationship with the intergovernmental association.

Award winners will receive a trophy and plaque which they can showcase in their school. There will also be digital badges issued to award winners for display on their digital platforms. 

Confidentiality

All entries will be accessed and stored securely on our website and access to these by judges will be strictly monitored.

By submitting an entry to the Awards, companies and individuals consent to the organizers using the provided data and selected visual materials for the purposes of the awards presentation and related promotional activities.