The Queen's Anniversary Prizes for Higher and Further Education are a biennially awarded series of prizes awarded to universities and colleges in the further and higher education sectors within the United Kingdom. Uniquely it forms part of the British honours system, to date rounds have occurred in 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023.
The Queen's Anniversary Prizes recognise outstanding work by UK colleges and universities that shows quality and innovation and delivers real benefit to the wider world and public through education and training. The Prizes are the highest national Honour awarded in UK further and higher education.[1]
The prize is awarded by the Royal Anniversary Trust, a registered charity founded in 1990 to develop a program to mark 1992 as the 40th year of Elizabeth II's reign as British monarch. The program had these four goals:
Past winners have been recognized for work in a wide range of disciplines such as science, engineering, arts and the creative industries, education, the humanities, the environment and medicine.
The next round of winners will be introduced in Autumn of 2025.
The educational award which the Royal Anniversary Trust established was the Queen's Anniversary Prize.[2]