Educate Awards welcomes new sponsor for 2026

Educate Awards has announced a new partnership with Carpe Diem Education Consultants UK for its 2026 awards.

Specialists in special educational needs (SEND) and neurodiversity, Carpe Diem has joined 12 established associate sponsors supporting Educate Awards 2026. Carpe Diem will sponsor the Mental Health & Wellbeing Award at the largest education awards in the North West.

Carpe Diem provides bespoke services, rooted in compassionate, ethical and trauma-informed approaches. It supports schools, alternative provisions, families, and organisations to create inclusive environments for learners.

Based in Liverpool, Carpe Diem helps learners and adults around them through its promotion of resilience, a growth mindset, adaptability, relational practice and meaningful belonging. Its sponsorship of Educate Award’s Mental Health & Wellbeing Award reflects a shared commitment between both organisations to champion positive cultures of social and emotional wellbeing across the education sector.

Commenting on the exciting sponsorship announcement, Claire McDonough, managing director at Carpe Diem Education Consultants UK, said:

“I am incredibly proud that Carpe Diem Education Consultants UK is sponsoring the Mental Health & Wellbeing Award at Educate Award 2026 because this category speaks directly to the heart of our work. For me, inclusion is not simply about access to education. It is about whether a child feels safe enough to learn, accepted enough to be themselves and valued enough to believe they truly matter.

“My journey into SEND, neurodiversity and mental health has been shaped by professional experience, but also by lived experience that crosses many different situations. This has given me a deep commitment to psychologically safe education, genuine belonging and warm, human connection. Being voted ‘The Hillary Dunne SEND Superstar’ at Sefton Parent Carer Forum’s SEND Awards 2025 was one of the greatest honours of my career, because it reflected the voices of families who know how powerful it is when someone truly sees, hears and stands alongside them.

“Sponsoring the Mental Health & Wellbeing Award feels like a very natural extension of Carpe Diem’s mission. My own story, and that of my three children who all have complex needs, was the starting point that fuelled the creation of Carpe Diem. Yet it is the countless children, young people, families and settings I have had the privilege to work alongside over time that continue to strengthen my passion for this work. This sponsorship is about celebrating the schools and staff who make wellbeing visible, inclusion meaningful, and belonging something children and young people can actually feel.”

Marking a milestone fifteenth year, Educate Awards shines a spotlight on inspirational nurseries, schools, colleges and multi academy trusts across the North West.

The Mental Health & Wellbeing Award is open to schools, sixth forms and colleges that effectively tackle mental health and wellbeing issues. It honours those that create supportive environments and promote mental health as everyone’s responsibility.

Celebrating excellence, the judges look for entries that demonstrate the:

• implementation of proactive programmes
• delivery of meaningful and targeted interventions
• empowerment of staff to respond confidently and effectively to mental health concerns.

Kim O’Brien, founder of Educate Awards, said: 

“We are thrilled to welcome Carpe Diem Education Consultants UK as associate sponsors of this year’s awards. Carpe Diem’s passion for inclusive education and supporting the wellbeing of learners aligns perfectly with the purpose of our Mental Health & Wellbeing Award.

“We are incredibly grateful to Claire and Carpe Diem for pledging their support to Educate Awards 2026, and together we look forward to celebrating the important work taking place in schools, sixth forms and colleges across the region.”

There is still time to enter this year’s Educate Awards. With two weeks to go until the Thursday, 16 July deadline, schools can still put themselves in the spotlight. Enter here.