Prizes and awards

Prizes and awards in art education include individual prizes and incentive awards. In addition to the arts education aspect, they often focus on cultural participation and social relevance.

Thesis prizes

Why would you register your thesis or final project in order to win an individual prize? If your work is selected, you will be given the opportunity to show your research to a wider audience. You will receive recognition for your hard work and attention for your innovative results. The winner’s prize usually consists of a sum of money.

ZOEK!prijs
The ZOEK!prijs is awarded annually for the best or most innovative research by graduates from the Breitner Academy.

AHK Graduation Prize
The Amsterdam University of the Arts awards the AHK Graduation Prize annually for the best graduation work. An important assessment criterion is the way in which a connection is made with the outside world and the relevance of the work for the further development of the field of study. There are three prizes: €2,000 for a Bachelor’s project, €2,000 for a Master’s project and an audience award of € 500. You can register yourself for the AHK Graduation Prize or nominate someone.

Echo Award
Students who are eligible for an ECHO Award are successful students from a non-Western background who distinguish themselves through their exceptional academic achievements, groundbreaking outlook, bridge-building qualities, active social engagement and leadership. The aim of the ECHO Award is to generate positive attention for individual successes of students from the multicultural society.  The winners are rewarded with a fully-organised summer course at UCLA, the University of California Los Angeles in the United States.

Incentive awards

Incentive awards contribute to quality improvement in the arts education sector. These awards not only lead to quality improvement at the winning organisations, but these good practices also have an inspiring effect on others. The knowledge and experience of the award winners can also be used at other institutions. Furthermore, the awards are a source of gratification, a reward for high-performing staff and, above all, a way of providing recognition. Winning a prize can be used by institutions, individuals or municipalities to improve their public image, for personnel policy or to attract an audience. A selection:

Teacher of the Year
The Dutch National Student Association (Interstedelijke Studenten Overleg, ISO) organises the election for Teacher of the Year (Docent van het Jaar), with the aim to generate more attention for the importance of good teaching and high-quality education.

De kunst van het ontwerpen (The art of design)
The contemporary educational practice requires lecturers who not only can teach, but are also able to (partially) develop and design education based on a personal vision. That definitely applies to education in the arts, a dynamic field of study with ever-changing forms of artistic expression. In order to make the unique expertise of future arts teachers as educational designers visible, the LKCA organises this educational design award together with the Landelijk Overleg Kunstvakdocentenopleidingen (National Arts Course Teacher Training Committee, KVDO) and the Arts Education research group of the Amsterdam University of the Arts.

Elisabeth van Thuringen Prize
This prize is an incentive award for art in healthcare. Artists and organisations in the Dutch healthcare sector who jointly seek to create artworks and/or arts projects that enhance the welfare and well-being of patients and users are eligible for this arts prize. The prize consists of a sum of money of € 10,000. The money is intended for the realisation of the artwork.

Amateo Award
The European network Amateo presents an award for an exceptional cultural participation project. Projects from all countries are able to apply. The Award goes to the project that provides the most added value to its environment. An independent jury selects five nominees from all entries submitted. A winner is chosen from these five nominees. The winner receives € 1,000 and becomes Amateo Ambassador for European amateur arts.

eTwinning Prize
eTwinning is the online community for schools in over 40 European countries. If you work at a school, you can collaborate online with European colleagues together with your pupils or students. If a quality label is awarded, you can win a prize. Every year, Nuffic (the Dutch organisation for internationalisation in education) awards a prize to the three best international cooperation projects of the past school year, in primary education, secondary education and senior secondary vocational education (Dutch mbo).