Since 2017, GENE has been offering Global Education Innovation Awards that are meant to reward and showcase best examples of GCE practice in the European context. The selection criteria include the following dimensions: transformative learning, interconnectedness global-local, educational approach, creativity, outreach, education, inspiration for public policy. The website offers a brief presentation of selected initiatives from this and previous years and explains the selection criteria in more detail.
The GENE Awards were created with the purpose of collecting best practices in GCE, especially those that could lead to positive policy recommendations. This collection of best practices can offer insight into what kind of GCE initiative and practices are seen as innovative and “award worthy” by the broader GCE sector. The awards committee consists of representatives from a diversity of sectors - ministries and agencies, academia, NGOs, local and regional authorities, youth and other emerging actors.
The list of selected initiatives can be used as a list of contacts for new partnerships, while a more nuanced review of the selected projects can also offer insight into which topics and what kind of approaches remain unacknowledged and unaddressed and what kind of approaches are celebrated and what for. Creativity, personal engagement and scalability are the most important factors.