Celebrating excellence across Australia: Insights from the 2025 Affinity award winners

Each year, the Affinity Education Awards provide a powerful platform to recognise the educators driving quality and care across. The 2025 ceremony, held in December, celebrated outstanding educators, centre leaders, support staff and teams making a difference in the lives of children and families, across metropolitan, regional and remote communities.

Winners were drawn from diverse locations including Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, the ACT, and the Northern Territory. While their roles and career stages vary, every honouree shares a deep commitment to nurturing young children, supporting families, and collaborating with their colleagues.

The Affinity Awards shine a spotlight on excellence in several critical areas across the early learning sector:

• Exceptional early childhood education and teaching practice, including educators who embed the Lifelong Learning Curriculum in meaningful, inspiring ways.
• Values-led leadership, with recognition for leaders who coach, mentor and empower others.
• Safety, compliance and quality, with awards such as “Excellence in Safety and Compliance” and “Safety Leader of the Year.”
• Teamwork and collaboration, including mentoring and shared achievement.
• Career development and professional growth, with winners advancing through Affinity’s internal career pathways and learning programs.

Award winners in categories such as “Excellence in Centre Performance” and “Excellence in Quality” demonstrated how strong systems and great people combine to deliver consistent, high-quality early learning outcomes. The judging process was informed by internal data, direct feedback, and peer nominations, identifying Affinity’s commitment to evidence-based recognition.

Importantly, the awards honour achievements across the entire centre environment, from direct teaching roles to support positions, recognising that every role contributes to quality outcomes in early learning.

This year’s honourees included:

• Trainees of the Year.
• Senior Educational Leaders and room-based leaders.
• Specialised educators recognised in categories like Early Childhood Teacher of the Year, Healthy Beginnings Nursery Educator of the Year, and School Readiness Educator of the Year.
• Centre Managers and Assistant Managers, celebrated for their role in shaping culture and performance.
• Cooks, with recognition such as “Cook of the Year” for those delivering healthy meals that support children’s wellbeing and learning.

Whether someone is just beginning their journey in the sector or stepping into leadership, the awards reinforced that Affinity is committed to building long-term careers in early childhood education.

The 2025 award recipients are a reminder of the professionalism, care and dedication that highlight high-quality early learning.