The Tech & Learning Awards of Excellence: Best of 2026 celebrates educational technology from the last 12 months that has excelled and shone in supporting teachers, students, and education professionals in the classroom, for professional development or general management of education resources and learning.
This contest targets products designed for district implementation that focus on large-scale efficiency, data management, and strategic goal achievement across a school or district.
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Qualifying products include those that have been launched, relaunched, or saw a significant upgrade or version introduced in 2026 that have helped schools improve teaching and learning. Whether the product is for those in Primary, Secondary, or Higher Education, these awards provide a great opportunity for forward-thinking edtech companies to gain exposure to Tech & Learning's audience of 73k decision makers.
"What I appreciate most about the Tech & Learning awards is the curated list of dependable tools for educators,” writes one of our judges. “As a judge, it's a great way to stay updated on what's new and impactful. For readers, it serves as a trusted resource for making buying decisions."
Best of Year: Judging Criteria
Tech & Learning's panel of educators and judges will evaluate each entry using the information submitted in the registration forms, including product descriptions, images, and case studies. The panel will score each product against a set of criteria. The products that score the highest across all the criteria will be named as winners in this year's Best of Year Awards
Here are some tips from our judges submitting the most successful nominations:
System Integration & Interoperability: Explain how the product is easy to install and integrate into complex school system ecosystems (e.g., SIS, LMS, data warehouses) and operates effectively with existing enterprise products.
Student Outcomes & Strategic Impact: Demonstrate how the product helps the district improve and measure student outcomes (e.g., equity, college readiness) and enhance school or district efficiency for the year. Provide evidence (case studies, research) or large-scale, positive impact.
Data Privacy & Governance: Specifically address how your tool supports robust student data privacy and security beyond basic compliance, reflecting the heightened concerns of a district-wide implementation.
Usage & Measurement: Explain how your product helps the district measure product usage and effectiveness (e.g., reporting features, adoption tracking, impact dashboards) to determine its own ROI.
Value (ROI for System): Address the larger scale of implementation: How does this product empower all educators and enhance overall school/district efficiency (e.g., cost savings on administrative tasks, reduction in data silos, better resource allocation)?
ENTER THE BEST OF 2026 AWARDS HERE
- All winners receive a “winner's package.” This includes a fully licensed winners badge for in-house promotion, a designed social post, press release, and template winners email.
- Winning products will be showcased in a special edition of Tech & Learning distributed to our readership, which is built of education professionals, district leaders, and school administrators.
- A Tech & Learning Award of Excellence: Best of 2026 is a highly recognized accolade provided to only the best in EdTech, based on evaluation by a panel of education experts.
How It Works
BEGIN YOUR ENTRY BY CLICKING HERE and read through the awards site for more information on eligibility, benefits for entering, and information on the Tech & Learning Awards of Excellence 2026.
The entry deadline is 11:59 PM ET January 8, 2027.
