2026 ResourceSmart Schools Awards
The ResourceSmart School Awards are Victoria’s largest sustainability celebration for primary and secondary school students, teachers and school volunteers.
The 2026 theme, ‘Our sustainable community’, celebrates teachers, students and stakeholders sharing knowledge, passion, and commitment to drive sustainability for a thriving environment.
Celebrate with 'Our sustainable community' in 2026!
'Proud, accepted, valued, uplifted, seen and inspired – that’s the feeling 2025 attendees took home from the awards.'
Key dates
Eligibility
The awards celebrate all steps towards a sustainable future – no action is too small.
Participant Schools must be ‘active’ in ResourceSmart Schools program in this financial year (from 1 July 2025).
View the categories for any additional eligibility requirements.
View sample entries for this year's categories.
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Become a ResourceSmart School, or activate your existing RSS Online account by doing any of the following:
- Leave a comment in a module action. For example:
- Core Module, Action 1.1: 'We will continue to be part of ResourceSmart Schools in 25 - 26.'
- Any Resource Module, Action 2.3: 'Our school entered the RSS 2026 Awards, category: [insert name].'
- Update annual settings (e.g. staff and student numbers for 2025 or 2026)
- Upload a document
- Enter a bill.
- Leave a comment in a module action. For example:
Terms and conditions
View terms and conditions for entering the 2026 ResourceSmart Schools Awards.
Consent forms
Include signed consent forms for all images with recognisable faces, especially the one selected for media use in each category form.
Categories
General eligibility requirements apply for all categories.
- Campus Infrastructure and Operations School of the Year
- Emerging School of the Year
- Special eligibility: The school must have signed a ResourceSmart School memorandum of understanding between 1 July 2024 and 9 March 2026 for the first time, or set a resource baseline between 1 July 2024 and 9 March 2026.
- School Volunteer of the Year
- Special eligibility: To qualify as a volunteer, the individual or group must not have been remunerated for their time/activities.
- Student Action Team of the Year (Primary)
- Student Action Team of the Year (Secondary)
- Curriculum Leadership School of the Year (Primary)
- Curriculum Leadership School of the Year (Secondary)
- CDS Vic Excellence Award (Primary)
- Special eligibility: schools must be registered with the Victoria’s Container Deposit Scheme as well as be an active ResourceSmart School.
- This award is sponsored by Victoria's Container Deposit Scheme.
- CDS Vic Excellence Award (Secondary)
- Special eligibility: Schools must be registered with the Victoria’s Container Deposit Scheme as well as be an active ResourceSmart School.
- This award is sponsored by Victoria's Container Deposit Scheme.
- Teacher of the Year (Primary)
- Teacher of the Year (Secondary)
- ResourceSmart School of the Year
- Special eligibility: Schools must have at least 3 Star ResourceSmart Schools certification.
Why schools enter the awards
- Recognise sustainability legends: An opportunity to acknowledge excellence and hard work by schools or specific teachers, students, volunteers and partnerships.
- Receive prize money and a platform: An opportunity to amplify school sustainability projects and goals.
- Reflect on their progress: An opportunity to take stock of how much they’ve achieved.
- Attend a special ceremony: All finalists attend a fun-packed ceremony at the Melbourne Cricket Ground with special guests
Support to enter and attend the awards
We offer subsidies for travel and for casual relief staff so that our finalist schools can attend the ResourceSmart Schools Awards as cost neutral as possible. In addition, we have resources to support you in submitting your entry.
Sample entries
View sample category entries.
Scoring rubric
Download the rubric judges will use to assess each category’s questions to help you craft your entry.
Online events
- Awards information session 1: Thursday 27 November 2025, 4 pm
- Awards information session 2: Thursday 12 February 2026, 4 pm
1:1 coaching
Book a 15-minute online meeting via MS Teams to talk through your entry with the Awards team.
Written feedback on your entry
If you submit your entry before 12 December 2025 can request written feedback.
You can modify your entry at any time up until the Award closing date on 9 March 2026. Submissions are managed online by AwardsForce.
View past finalist and winners
Read about the projects from finalists and winning schools between 2015 and 2025.
Award presentation event
Date: 11 June 2026 from 10 am to 2 pm
Location: Melbourne Cricket Ground
This premier event is by invitation only, with all finalists, event sponsors, delivery partners (CERES, Environment Education Victoria, and Eastern Alliance for Sustainable Learning), and government and industry leaders in sustainability.
Check out the latest ResourceSmart Schools Awards event
You can also view videos from our:
Contact us
If you have questions or have been working on sustainability but you aren’t part of the ResourceSmart Schools community yet, contact us.
