Graide won the contribution to education award at the Birmingham Awards, where there were over 500 nominations and over 120,000 votes.
Birmingham is a city of opportunity, with endless prospects. The Birmingham Awards provide an annual showcase for the best in each industry to be recognised by their peers while showcasing their achievements - it's really worth attending!
The heart of this city is the thriving culture and creativity. The people who personify these attributes are celebrated at the Birmingham Awards, a platform that embodies everything worth celebrating in today's world.
Contribution to Education Award of the Year
The “Contribution to Education” award criteria included a person or an organisation that has contributed to the excellence of educational provision or maintained a record of scholarly excellence in teaching, or development and outreach.
The Process
There was a four stage process for receiving our award.
- Nominations were open for all categories. Anyone could nominate an individual or organisation in any of the categories. There were over 500 nominations for the main Birmingham Awards categories this year. We were fortunate enough to be nominated for the “Contribution to Education Award”.
- The shortlist was announced publicly on 19th September and voting was opened to the general public on the same day. The voting closed on 2nd October 2022 where over 120,000 votes were received.
- A panel of independent judges reviewed the shortlist over 2 days. The judges interviewed individuals and businesses and went through the applications and supporting evidence for the other categories.
- The winners were announced on 11th November at a glittering ceremony at the Eastside Rooms!
Finalists
In our category we were shortlisted alongside remarkable finalists:
- Birmingham City University
- David Carruthers - Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospital
- Graide
- Kimichi School
- Shannon Rice - Adventure Grove
- Victoria Pargetter - University of Birmingham
The Event
#TheLegacyContinues was the theme of this year's Birmingham Awards, an event that celebrated the remarkable impact of the Commonwealth Games on our city and its possibilities for continued commitment to building local communities. Host Phil Oldershaw shared his own experiences during those 11 days, while guests raised £4K in support of LoveBrum - who works tirelessly to uncover hidden gems throughout Birmingham with their goods deeds!
With a dedication to showcasing local artistry, the event was marked by riveting performances from Friendly Fire Band, known for their hit "It's A Brum Ting" featured in Commonwealth Games commercials; Raza Hussain delivering powerful spoken word poetry; Eloquent Praise Dance Company gracing guests with unmatched dance ensembles, and Candy and the Sound serving as house bands.
The Birmingham Awards were organised by Ifraz Ahmed and Anita Chumber. Speaking about the success of the event, they said:
“Being a passion project for us, we want to recognise and celebrate individuals and organisations that positively impact our communities. Birmingham is a diverse city and we want to shine a spotlight on all levels of society to promote the growth of our great city, Birmingham.”
We Won!
I couldn’t believe that we won. There was such a strong line up of finalists, and we were honoured to just be nominated. We provided supporting evidence of our research that showed reduction of workload, our case study with the University of Birmingham, and our partnership with Jisc.
The judges stated:
“Graide uses artificial intelligence for marking students' work. While teaching at the University of Birmingham they saw weaknesses in current marking methods and invested in innovative thinking to develop processes and technology to improve student feedback loop and marking consistency.
The Judges were impressed with the results delivered so far and could see that Graide are changing the higher education sector for the better.”
We proudly accepted the “Contribution to Education Award” with gratitude, understanding that this recognition serves as a powerful confirmation of our commitment to improving the lives of educators and student outcomes on an ever-broadening global scale. Graide's mission is rooted in two decades worth of combined experience from current and former teachers - making such successes all the more meaningful for us.
