Anzac Day Schools' Awards

The Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) is proud to host the 2021 Anzac Day Schools' Awards, recognising the commitment of students, teachers and schools to engage with veterans and honour Australia's wartime history.

Social distancing requirements in the current COVID-19 environment may require schools to consider alternatives to gatherings or assemblies to commemorate Anzac Day in 2021.

To encourage student participation and a deeper understanding of this year's theme, school assemblies and speeches will not be considered for entries in 2021.

Annual theme

In 2021, the awards theme will be What does commemoration look like in your community?

Each year, we choose a different theme to reflect a significant anniversary or an aspect of Australia’s wartime history.

This year, your entry must focus on commemoration in the local community.

Your school can submit an entry from a class, a year level or as a whole school.

Entries close at 5pm AEST Wednesday 30 June 2021.

Download the Anzac Day Schools' Awards 2021 poster.

Ideas for your entry

• Commemorating Anzac Day or Remembrance Day in the 21st century
• Changing attitudes towards commemoration over time
• Engaging with veterans, hearing their stories
• Experiences of families of service men and women
• The changing roles of women in war
• Commemoration in a multicultural community

You may wish to:

• conduct historical research
• interview veterans
• tell stories
• create artworks
• make a movie
• create a website

Prizes

• National School Award ($5000)
• State/Territory School Awards ($3000 each)
• Brigadier Bill Rolfe AO Award for Veteran Involvement ($2000)
• Award for Innovative Commemoration ($2000)
• Award for Creative use of Technology ($2000)
• Remote Schools Award ($2000)
• Specialist Educational Settings Award ($2000)

Judging

All awards are selected by a panel of judges.

Entries are judged on these criteria:

• Commitment to the theme
• Student leadership and/or engagement
• Engagement with veterans and/or current serving members of the ADF
• Quality research
• Creative learning activities
• Evidence of student learning
• Quality of presentation

Special category winners

Brigadier Bill Rolfe AO Award for Veteran Involvement

Significant and relevant involvement by veterans and/or current serving members of the Australian Defence Forces (ADF).

Award for Innovative Commemoration

Original and creative learning activities which engage students with veterans and/or current serving members of the ADF.

Award for Creative Use of Technology

Use of new technologies in a creative and thoughtful way to engage students in learning about commemoration (including apps, websites, stop motion, movies).

Remote Schools Award

The strongest entry from a Remote or Very Remote School

Specialist Educational Setting Award

The strongest entry from a school which provides specialist and intensive support in a dedicated educational setting.

Certificates of Excellence

Awarded to entries that meet one or more criteria to a high standard but do not receive a major prize.

Winning entries will be showcased on the Anzac Portal, including photos and a description of their submission.

Entry requirements

Schools may choose ONE of these formats for their entry:

• a PowerPoint or similar slide deck -up to 15 slides; may include an embedded video of no more than 1 minute
• written content and images, for example, poetry or creative writing, an artwork - up to 10 pages, including images, or
• a video or digital content - up to 2 minutes; see checklist for file formats

Your entry must include a rationale (up to 500 words) of the activities and learning undertaken by the students in relation to the theme and judging criteria. This is in addition to the limits for the format you choose above.

Your entry must be in one of the following formats: gif, jpg, jpeg, png, txt, pdf, doc, docx, mov, mp3, mp4, zip, ppt, pptx with a file size of no more than 100 MB.

Get in touch

If you have any questions or experience technical difficulties when submitting your entry, get in touch with us at education@dva.gov.au