The FE First Awards celebrates the achievements of marketing teams and individuals in colleges and sixth forms from across the country. The prestigious event, highly regarded in the sector, is the only awards to solely celebrate marketing in the further education arena.
2027 represents a milestone year for the CMN as we celebrate 40 years of connection, collaboration and professional community within Further Education marketing.
To mark this new chapter, we are proud to welcome Prospectus+ as the first-ever Headline Partner of the FE First Awards 2027. Together, we look forward to celebrating the people, ideas and innovation shaping FE marketing today.
Entry is free for all current CMN Members. For non-members, the fee is £125 per entry.
Recognising strategic and effective use of digital channels, platforms, and tools to engage audiences and deliver measurable performance.
Celebrating events designed to support student recruitment, demonstrating strong planning, engaging experiences, and clear impact on applications and enrolment.
Honouring a coordinated and strategic approach to admissions that enhances the applicant experience and improves conversion outcomes.
Recognising original thinking and innovative approaches that challenge convention and deliver meaningful marketing impact.
Celebrating marketing activity that drives internal engagement, supports organisational change, and delivers measurable impact within the organisation.
Recognising excellence in prospectus design and content, demonstrating strong audience focus, usability, and impact on engagement or recruitment.
Honouring strategic school engagement activity that builds relationships, raises awareness, and supports student recruitment.
Celebrating marketing activity that delivers exceptional results with limited resources, demonstrating creativity, efficiency, and strong return on investment.
Celebrating an individual in the early stages of their career who is already making a meaningful impact and showing strong future potential.
Honouring an exceptional marketing professional who consistently delivers at a high level and makes a significant impact within their team or organisation.
Recognising a high-performing marketing team that demonstrates strong collaboration, strategic alignment, and sustained impact across the organisation.
The award is open to marketing teams of 8 or more FTE members.
Recognising a high-performing marketing team that demonstrates strong collaboration, strategic alignment, and sustained impact across the organisation.
The award is open to marketing teams of 1-7 FTE members.
Step 1: Download the Guidelines
You must download the guidelines to access the entry portal link inside.
Step 2: Submit Online
Use the portal link provided in your downloaded guidelines to:
Note: All entries must be submitted online via the Awards Force platform. Entries won’t be accepted in any other format.
The gala dinner is a formal event, starting with a drinks reception, followed by a three course meal, and then the awards presentation. Dress code is formal, black tie optional but encouraged.
Prices are +VAT. Payment can be by PO or online.
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The Aloft Hotel is joined to the Eastside Rooms.
We have secured special rates for the event:
Single Occupancy – £121 per person per night, B&B (+VAT)
Double Occupancy (twin room) – £135 for two people per night, B&B (+VAT)
These rates are only available through the CMN. Please select the option when booking your event ticket(s).
Alternatively, there are other hotels nearby, which you can book direct:
Travelling by train
Birmingham New Street Grand Central Station is only 0.9 miles from the venue.
Travelling by car
Millennium Car Park is the nearest car park – Howe Street, B4 7AP.
Open every day, 6am to midnight. (Car park is locked at midnight but vehicles may be left overnight – charges still apply. Total cost will be calculated at time of exit). Pay on exit – cash, debit or credit card.
Up to 12 hrs – £8. Up to 24 hrs – £11.50.
Please be aware of Birmingham’s clean air zone.
All of the award entries are judged by a panel of professionals who specialise in the further education sector and the College Marketing Network oversees the entire awards process with the highest standards of care and confidentiality.
All entries are reviewed and pre-scored by the panel of judges. Judges then review and discuss the top-scoring entries in detail, agreeing on the winners for each category. Each award category will be judged by two panel members, and all judges must declare any potential conflicts of interest before the judging process begins.
Education Marketing Specialist and Director at LB Marketing
Co-founder and Director at The Cusp
Marketing and Public Relations Specialist at Goldings Communications
Co-founder and Director at The Cusp
Education Marketing Specialist and Director at Propell Marketing
Digital Marketing Consultant and Owner at Serpass Digital
AJB Media helps colleges connect with prospective students through strategic media planning and buying. With expertise across TV, radio, outdoor, transport, digital and social media advertising, the team delivers targeted campaigns designed to reach the right audiences, maximise budgets and support student recruitment objectives.
Concept4, a well-known name in college marketing, and we’re not scared to shout about it! Why? Because we design and build first-class college websites and apps.
Our team of seasoned account directors, designers and highly skilled web developers consistently go over and above what’s expected in the further education sector, delivering websites that push boundaries and achieve goals. We’ve built large scale powerful college websites with seamless integrations to MIS systems.
FE Marketing works with FE college marketing teams to help them identify which of their marketing activities are generating online applications, event registrations and course enquiries so they can do more of what is working and less of what is not.
The company was founded by Simon Connor in 2006 to help FE college marketing teams gain greater insights from their website traffic and digital campaigns.
Since then we have helped over 150 FE college marketing teams to effectively evaluate their digital strategies and make data-driven marketing decisions to help achieve their student recruitment objectives.
LDA is an award-winning creative agency specialising in strategy, research, content, creative, digital and technology. With over 25 years’ experience, they work with education providers and public sector organisations to better understand their audiences and deliver insight-led campaigns, brand development and digital experiences.
From audience research and positioning through to website design and development, LDA helps colleges create meaningful connections with prospective students and stakeholders, supporting recruitment, engagement and long-term brand growth.
Pathways is a suite of career tools that help students see the link between your courses and careers. It brings high quality careers information into your website and shows prospective students and their parents possible career options after studying on your courses.
Pathways is an affordable solution, set up is easy, it requires no extra work from your IT team and helps fulfil Gatsby Benchmarks and Ofsted’s careers criteria.
Prospectus Plus is a digital tool that provides a sustainable and personalised solution for creating prospectuses. We prioritise sustainability by offering an eco-friendly alternative to paper prospectuses.
Users can create a personalised copy of your prospectus, showing the most relevant content to their needs and interests all in one place. And in turn, creating a higher conversion rate.
Our built-in analytics enables you to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of your prospectus. This helps you to optimise their prospectus design and content to improve overall performance. Prospectus Plus is revolutionising the way educational institutions approach prospectus creation, offering a comprehensive solution that delivers measurable results.
qlue – a well established web design, development, and marketing agency with a strong specialisation in the FE sector.
Transform how you manage student relationships with Student CRM‘s intuitive, cost-effective system designed specifically for educational providers.
Whether you’re a small, medium, or specialist institution, our SaaS solution creates a single source of truth, streamlines communication, enhances engagement, simplifies data management and centralises all your marketing and recruitment needs — without the complexity (price and consultant need) of an enterprise system!
With quick implementation (<28 Days) and ongoing product updates, our CRM helps you hit the ground running with simple, easy-to-use, sector-specific technology loved by our partners & users.
Visit our stand to see how we can support your institution’s goals with a tool built specifically for your needs.
