Another award for Coastcraft

Coastcraft has won another award.

I worked on behalf of the GA to produce the Education materials for the project.

The Geography in Government (GiG) Awards are annual awards organised by the Government Geography Profession, recognisng outstanding applications of geographic knowledge and skills in government policy and practice.

The CoastCraft educational game was shortlisted for in the Communications category, which recognises government teams, individuals or products who effectively use geographic knowledge and skills to improve public communication. This includes creating clear, engaging and informative materials that help policymakers, stakeholders, and the public understand complex geographic data and its real-world impact.

The project is overjoyed that the CoastCraft game won in this category. It is a reflection of the value of educational gaming in improving coastal literacy and helping game users understand the challenges associated with adaptation pathways.’

This follows the BETT Award the project won in January of this year.

CoastCraft - Award winning

A reminder to check out CoastCraft!!

Learn about the features of coastal landscapes along with coastal processes.

Understand the characteristics of sand dune ecosystems, sand dune succession and how sand dunes are used as a nature-based solution for flooding and coastal erosion.

Explore a range of coastal management strategies to respond to predicted changes resulting from climate change and sea level rise.

Explore and visualise a range of potential futures influenced by the interactions with communities and stakeholders and the choices made by coastal managers. 

And did I mention that we won a BETT award!

The Judges praised Coast Craft as an 

“authentic digital learning experience that brings climate change and coastal geography vividly to life. By connecting curriculum content with real-world data and presenting it in a Minecraft-style environment, it enables pupils to learn through interactive simulations and understand the future impact of decision-making."


I worked on Coastcraft to create the Teacher Pack and also inform the creators about the best way to link to the curriculum, and what it should focus on. This work was as a consultant to the Geographical Association - another of many projects I've completed.

Congratulations to Steve and Stephen

I've previously mentioned a book written by two former GA Presidents who were very supportive of my own Presidency: Stephen Scoffham and Steve Rawlinson.

It was published in 2022 by Bloomsbury, and I was very kindly gifted a copy by the authors to mark my Presidency.

The book has just won a Global Dimension Award 2023 in the Teachers' Choice category.

The citation for the award read:

Sometimes all we need is a quick lesson plan and other times it's helpful to have a real deep dive into a topic. It’s easy to see why teachers favour this guide over other resources as it's just so comprehensive. Written by two highly experienced educators Stephen Scoffham and Steve Rawlinson this book contains advice for teaching sustainability issues across every subject between the ages of 3-14. With 180 age-specific activities, this is a treasure trove of inspiration and advice that every educator should possess.

Well done to Stephen and Steve.

Geographical Association Awards - now open for nominations

You have until the beginning of March to nominate someone for a Geographical Association award.

We have spent some time changing the awards a little as we want to bring in more nominations from the wider geographical community, and also from within the GA's large group of volunteers and members who get involved in the wider work of the GA through committees, special interest groups, branches, projects and other work.

Nominations for the GA Awards are now open!

Each year, at our Annual Conference, we present a number of awards to recognise and celebrate the contribution of individuals towards #geography #education.

Make your nomination by 1 March at https://t.co/c7ZAqfxeLB #GAConf23 pic.twitter.com/5mYGrgbbUA

— Geographical Association (@The_GA) January 16, 2023

Each year, at the GA’s Annual Conference, the Association presents a number of awards to recognise and celebrate the contribution of individuals towards geography education. 

GA awards include:

GA Honorary Membership (normally one award per year) – this is the highest award made by the GA, in return for sustained and outstanding service to the Association. It confers lifelong and complimentary membership of the GA on its recipients. Read a list of GA Honorary Members

GA Annual Awards for Excellence (normally up to two awards per year) – for a GA member or non-member who has made a significant contribution to furthering geographical knowledge and understanding through education and/or to the work of the GA over the previous year. Read a list of past recipients here.

GA Geography Champion (normally up to two awards per year) – for a GA member or non-member who has made a significant contribution to supporting the work of the geography educator community or raising the profile of geography within the wider public arena.

This is a new award and we want to draw in nominations from people outside of the GA for this particular award. If you've been helped by someone please nominate them.

GA Distinguished Service Award – for a GA member who has made a notable contribution to the work of the GA and its charitable mission over a sustained period of time. This contribution might arise from participation on GA committees or special interest, or volunteer groups, service given to local branches, or other significant activity that has furthered the work of the Association.

Nominations for awards can only be made by current members and should be submitted using the online GA Awards nomination form. 

This is a change to make nominating someone easier - no more paper forms.

Please read the details of GA Awards criteria before making a nomination.

Nominations can be made at any time of the year - another change.

Those received by 1 March will be considered for awards to be presented at an awards ceremony held at the GA Annual Conference and Exhibition that year; nominations received after that date will be considered for the following year.

The deadline is slightly different to previously, providing a little more time ahead of the Governing Body meeting where the nominations are ratified and agreed ahead of April.

Please get nominating. 

The awards will be presented by Alastair Owens and Denise Freeman this year.

GA Awards - deadline approaching for this year

The deadline for many of the GA's Awards is the end of December, and some are at the end of January.

If you are a GA member you can nominate someone for an Award, particularly if they are involved in one of the GA's areas of activity such as the Volunteer Groups, Journal articles, GA Branch activity or some other role.

Details of the awards, nomination forms and other information on the awards is here.

Each year, at the GA’s Annual Conference, the Association presents a number of awards to recognise and celebrate the contribution of individuals towards geography education. GA awards include:

1. Honorary Membership
Honorary Membership (normally one award per year) – this is the highest award made by the GA, in return for sustained and outstanding service to the Association. It confers lifelong and complimentary membership of the GA on its recipients. Read a list of GA Honorary Members here. Download the Honorary Membership of the GA nomination form here.

2. GA Annual Awards for Excellence
GA Annual Awards for Excellence (up to two awards) – for an individual who has made a significant contribution to furthering geographical knowledge and understanding through education and/or to the work of the GA over the previous year. Read a list of past recipients here . Download the GA Annual Award for Excellence nomination form here.

3. Distinguished Service Award
GA Distinguished Service Award (download nomination form) - for an individual who has made a notable contribution to the work of the GA and its charitable mission, particularly through specialist volunteer groups in the geographical community over a sustained period of time.

4. GA Outstanding Service Certificates and Diploma
GA Outstanding Service Certificates (download nomination form) - for outstanding service by a GA branch member to their local branch.
GA Outstanding Service Diploma (download nomination form) - for outstanding service to the GA through participation on GA committees or special interest groups.

5. GA Certificate
GA Certificate (download nomination form) – for the completion of three years service on a GA committee or special interest group.

6. GA Rex Walford Award
GA Rex Walford Award - for inspirational and innovative practice for those undertaking primary or secondary geography initial teacher education.

Further information about each of the awards including eligibility, nominations and judging is available to download below, together with the appropriate nomination forms.

Additional awards presented annually by the GA include:
Excellence in Leading Geography - journal articles judged to have made the greatest contribution to the development of good practice in geography teaching, as voted for by GA members. Recent recipients are published in GA Magazine. The awards will be presented at the GA Annual Conference.
GA Publishers' Awards - previous awardees are listed on our GA Publishers' Awards pages.
Geography Quality Marks – to reward and promote high quality geography in primary and secondary schools.

Please consider nominating someone for an award. If you don't nominate them they have very little chance of winning.

Image: Alan Parkinson, shared under CC license