Do you know a fantastic teacher or school volunteer whose dedication to their pupils is inspiring?

Then now is your chance to nominate them for a Kent Teacher of the Year Award and help them get the recognition they deserve.

Anyone who does paid or unpaid work in a school can be nominated, and anyone can nominate them - colleagues, parents, and even pupils.

A panel of judges will choose winners in categories including primary teacher; secondary teacher; newly qualified teacher; non-teaching staff such as dinner supervisors and caretakers; and volunteers - including reading volunteers, PTA members, governors, and parent helpers.

The deadline for nominations is March 1, and the winners will be revealed at an awards dinner in May at the Mercure Great Danes Hotel in Maidstone.

A launch event was staged at the Mercure and attended by members of the judging panel including representatives from Kent County Council, the University of Kent, Kent Sport, Canterbury Christ Church University, the University of Greenwich, Three R’s Teacher Recruitment, Medway Youth Trust, Social Enterprise Kent, Beanstalk, CXK, Salus, LoopCR, Kreston Reeves, and Diggerland.

Catriona Jamieson, area director at Medway Youth Trust, said: “We work really closely with schools across Kent and Medway, and we see first-hand the amount of pure passion, dedication, and hard work they put in to secure the best education for young people.”

Leah Macdonald, primary education consultant at Three R’s Teacher Recruitment in Ashford, added: “Every year the entries get harder to judge.”

Simon Dolby, chief executive of the KM Charity Team, which organises the awards, explained: “We started these awards to mark the vital contribution that teaching staff make to our community, and to recognise the expertise and dedication that is the hallmark of an outstanding teacher.

“A good teacher can change someone’s life. Many of us remember with great fondness a teacher who instilled a love of a subject in us – maybe shaping what we went on to study at university or do for a career.

“It’s a long time since I was at school but I still have great memories of my favourite teachers at Kent College – Mr Sweet, Mr Carter and Mr Shire, who taught me geography, biology and chemistry.

“Yet teachers remain underpaid, overworked and undervalued – so we hope we can do our bit to give a confidence boost to nominees and winners and remind them that people do appreciate them.”

For more information, or to nominate, visit www.kentteacheroftheyear.co.uk

Follow stories about Kent Teacher of the Year on Twitter @KMCharityTeam and #KMTOTY