Celebrating exceptional technology that supports educators heading back to school
With the 2025-26 school year approaching, Tech & Learning is back with the Awards of Excellence: Back to School to help readers find the most impressive products and solutions that will support their work in any learning environment.
Tech & Learning is seeking nominations for products that offer schools versatility, value, and solutions to specific problems to support innovative, effective teaching and learning. From security solutions to LMSs to hardware and software, this award recognizes both new and legacy technology that support effective teaching and learning practices in the new school year.
The entry deadline is currently set for 11:59 PM ET September 5, 2025. Begin your entry by clicking the button below or continue to read through the awards site for more information on eligibility, benefits for entering, and information on the Awards of Excellence.
Benefits of Entering
Winning an AOE for the best products and solutions for Back to School is more than just acknowledgement from Tech & Learning's editors, it's a fantastic way to showcase your products and their contributions to education.
Winning products will be showcased in a special edition of Tech & Learning distributed to the T&L readership (73,000), which is built of education professionals, district leaders, and school administrators.
All winners will receive a winner's package. This will include a fully-licensed winners badge for in-house promotion, a designed social post, press release, and template winners email.
A Tech & Learning Award of Excellence is a highly recognized accolade provided to only the best in EdTech, based on evaluation by a panel of education-experts.
Nominee Evaluation
Tech & Learning is looking for the brightest new products in the educational space – to help readers find the most impressive products and solutions that will support their work in any learning environment.
Each nominee will have to answer the following questions:
- What specific problem does this product solve?
- How is this product being used?
- How did your product exceptionally support teaching and learning in 2025?
- How does your product address the challenges facing education today?
So what does that mean in practice? It means our judges will be thinking about questions like:
- Is your product easy to use and does it include support for teachers as needed?
- Does your product simplify and enhance the teaching and learning experience?
- Is your product flexible to support both in-person and asynchronous online teaching and learning?
- How is your product unique compared to others in the market?
- Can your product be easily integrated with existing products being used in schools?
Tech & Learning's panel of educators and judges will evaluate each of these answers, along with the product descriptions, images, and case studies. The panel will score each product on Ease of Use, Value, Versatility, and Utility. The products that score the highest across all the criteria will be named as winners in this year's Awards of Excellence: Back to School.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Awards of Excellence are an award program recognizing innovation in the edtech industry. Tech & Learning magazine’s Awards of Excellence program for Back to School is a way to celebrate the most impressive products and solutions that support the work of teachers, students, and parents as they prepare for the new 2025-26 school year.
Any company that has a product that supports innovative, effective teaching and learning (it can be a new or legacy product).
Winning an Award of Excellence tells the industry that your product has been approved by the most important audience - the educators themselves. The top products will be selected and featured in a special edition of Tech & Learning magazine reaching over 73,000 edtech professionals.
All entries are due by 11:59 PM ET September 5, 2025.
Single Entry: $625.00
2-4 Entries: $595.00
5+ Entries: $525.00
Please note that the pricing rates will automatically update in your cart when finalizing your entries. As outlined here, the prices given will depend on the number of entries you are submitting.
The categories are broken down into Primary (Tools for K-6 grade education), Secondary (7-12), and Higher Ed. You can enter the same product into multiple categories.
Yes. There are no limits to the number of products you may nominate. Each requires a nomination form and entry fee(s).
Entries will be passed through a panel of Tech & Learning advisors. Evaluation criteria includes:
- Ease of use
- Value
- Versatility
- Product solves a problem
Winners will be announced in September 2025 and featured in a special issue of Tech & Learning.
Contact
Editorial questions
Content Director, Tech & Learning
Christine Weiser
