Registration is open for all headmasters of public pre-academic educational establishments in Romania, until July 20
The regional judging proceedings will take place in Bacău, Alba Iulia, Oradea and Constanța
The winners will be announced and the Gala awards will be presented on October 20

Bucharest, May 21, 2025. AVE (The Association for Values in Education) are opening registrations for The 2025 Headmasters of the Year Awards Gala, an event aimed at acknowledging and bringing to the fore the contributions made by school headmasters in transforming education in Romania.

Eligible to register are all headmasters and deputy headmasters who have held this position during the 2024-2025 interval at a public pre-academic educational establishment (kindergarten, primary school, primary and lower secondary school, high school), save for those who were awarded at the Gala’s previous editions. Headmasters can register by filling out a form online until July 20 (23:59). Filling out the online registration form can be done in several stages.

During the period reserved for registration, there will be an online form available by means of which any person who knows a school headmaster with exceptional results can recommend the latter.

“Each year, the Gala has shown us that there are headmasters who have the courage and drive to change the communities they are part of. These headmasters do not seek recognition, though they fully deserve it. Hence, the following are invited to recommend exceptional headmasters: teaching staff, parents, students, but also representatives of NGOs, the press, partner institutions and inspectorates. All recommended headmasters will be phoned by an association representative to encourage them to register. AVE believe in the power of things done together, and the over 6,000 recommendations received throughout the Gala’s previous eight editions show us that there are headmasters who make school a better place”, states Simona Pavelescu, AVE Executive Director.

Bacău, Alba Iulia, Oradea and Constanța will host the regional judging proceedings

The judging proceedings for The 2025 Headmasters of the Year Awards Gala have for stages: validating registrations, preliminary assessment, the regional judging proceedings and the national judging proceedings. This edition, too, will include a regional stage, hence there will be four such judging proceedings based on geographical partition, in Bacău, Alba Iulia, Oradea and Constanța. Each region will send for the Bucharest stage three winners, for the Innovation, Equal opportunities and Entrepreneurship categories.

The judging process engages from recruitment specialists to business leaders representing the largest employers in Romania, representatives of NGOs versed in education, students, school headmasters who won previous editions, journalists, Ministry of Education representative.

The awards ceremony will take place on October 20, at Bucharest National Opera House

During the Gala, awards will be presented to 4 school headmasters for the Innovation, Equal opportunities, Entrepreneurship and the 2025 Headmaster of the Year categories. Applications are allowed for no more than two of the three award categories (Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Equal opportunities). Each registered headmaster shall be automatically considered for the grand prize, the 2025 Headmaster of the Year.

The Innovation category focuses on implementing innovative solutions that have restructured a key process; the visible effects of the respective solution on the quality of education, team work and resource acquisition; taking up risks and overcoming obstacles throughout the innovation process.

For the Equal opportunities category attention is paid to preserving or enhancing access to education for disadvantaged groups at school and from the community; ensuring education quality for each pupil by means of integrated services and remedial learning; regard for wellbeing and positive educational results for all the children at school, even under crisis conditions. 

The Entrepreneurship category concerns managing resources and budgets, including the acquisition of additional resources; promoting an entrepreneurial culture, both among the teaching staff and among pupils; applying marketing strategies to highlight the school and draw pupils in. 

The 2025 Headmaster of the Year title is granted to the one who exceeds the expected level of a category and meets cross-cutting criteria. They have a clear vision as to the path they are setting for the educational establishment they coordinate, display resilience in the face of challenges. They are an inspirational leader, know how to motivate their team and to create a positive learning environment for adults and pupils. They are able to make decisions and own solutions to issues. 

The winners will be announced and the awards will be presented on October 20, at Bucharest National Opera House.

The award presented to each category shall be 3,500 Euro, an amount provided to allow furthering the project initiated at school with the community’s support or to start a new project, but also to have a spot reserved in The Programme for the Transformation of Schools in Romania, which AVE coordinates. The four winners also receive an invitation to be part of the jury at the following edition of The Headmasters of the Year Awards Gala.

By filling out online the registration form, school headmasters are closer to receiving the well-deserved recognition. For nine years, The Headmasters of the Year Awards Gala has been doing so for the leaders who transform school from within, even when it seems impossible. This initiative is about headmasters who do not wait for perfect conditions to emerge, but act with bravery, perseverance and vision so as to make school a better place for children, teachers and the community. Since 2017 awards have been presented to 34 headmasters, who have become leadership models in education.

The media partners who support the ninth edition of The Headmasters of the Year Awards Gala are: Republica, BIZ magazine, Agerpres, SpotMedia and România pozitivă.

About The Association for Values in Education

The Association for Values in Education is a non-profit organisation who has been contributing for 10 years to the transformation of the education system in Romania through programmes and projects developed starting from the needs of schools. AVE has coined and implemented programmes designed to have an impact both among the school’s management and teaching staff. AVE enables collaboration among private companies, school headmasters, the civil society and NGOs active in the field of education in order to forge successes with an impact on the education system. You can stay in touch with AVE’s endeavours by following the LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram pages.