# SDP Award Submissions ## Celebrating Evidence-Informed Excellence: The SDP Award for Strategic Data Excellence **Submissions are now closed for the 2026 Award. Check back in late 2026 for updates on the 2027 Award submission process!** Strong data work is critical to successful strategy, innovation, and improvement—yet because so many of our data successes are behind the scenes, this work is easy to take for granted. We want to change that. Help us showcase projects in PK12 and postsecondary education agencies who are using data in all the right ways to improve the education sector. Tell us how your organization or an organization you admire is solving big thorny problems, tackling obstacles, and demonstrating what’s possible. We are looking for stories of PK12 and postsecondary education systems using data to improve student outcomes and advance justice for students that will inspire and energize those across the SDP network. We will honor the best of these nominations with an award for strategic data excellence at our SDP Convening in May 2025 in Boston, MA. Regardless of the winner, we will share stories from across the network to elevate successes. Questions about this award or the nomination process? Email [alison\_segal@gse.harvard.edu](mailto:alison_segal@gse.harvard.edu). ## Nomination Process We invite teams to nominate their own projects. Or, if you know a team who should be nominated, invite them to apply. To begin the nomination process, [please complete this form no later than 11:45pm ET on January 22, 2025](https://bit.ly/SDPaward2025). In the nomination form you will be asked to elaborate on the project that showcased excellent use of data or evidence, including the success or early impact of that effort. Please note you will also submit a letter describing how the project meets each of the competencies below. You may nominate a project conducted by your team/department/agency or one you are familiar with from another K12 or postsecondary agency or system. Finalists will be selected and invited to submit additional information, which may include a short video or a video interview with a subsection of our selection panelists describing and showcasing their work. A panel of staff, affiliated faculty practitioners, and SDP Fellowship alumni will select which recipients to honor. Factors considered will include evidence of early success; impact on students, teachers, and/or leaders; technical innovation; evidence of moving the needle on justice for students, and potential for replication. Overall, we’re looking for a compelling and inspirational story with potential for replication. Honorees will be announced at the SDP Convening May 8-9, 2025, in Boston, MA. Honorees will be invited to attend SDP Convening and SDP will cover and book travel and lodging. The project receiving the highest honor will have the opportunity to join the Fall 2025 or Fall 2026 cohort of the two-year Strategic Data Project Fellowship and nominate an existing staff member to participate and execute further on analytic work aligned to the project, with the partnership fee waived. ## Eligibility and Competencies Eligibility Criteria: - A practitioner-led project within a domestic public K12 or postsecondary system. - A team, division, or department within. Not a single individual, but a group of at least 2-3 individuals. - Does not need to be a current or former SDP partner organization. Competencies: - The project demonstrates the use of high-quality data to resolve or make progress toward addressing a pressing, widespread need in education (across or within the K12 and/or postsecondary fields). - There is a clear challenge and/or analytic question that the agency was addressing. - There is early or clear measurable, quality evidence of success and impact on an audience, such as students or teachers. - The use of data is an inspirational model for others, and might use innovative models, make data more transparent and/or accessible to nontechnical audiences, or meet another need. - The project concluded within the last year or is in progress with measurable impact. - In theme with our 2025 convening, the project advances dialogue about how to move from insights to action.Types of Strategic Data Excellence Strategic Data Excellence uses data to tackle or understand a specific, urgent problem faced by the organization. The data strategy is not just an analytic exercise but a project with real impacts on the ground. In other words, the data should change how things are done for the better. Our work spans the education sector, and excellence may appear in different ways. Whether it’s developing an innovative data tool, making a difficult decision in an evidence-based fashion, improving data privacy and governance, or generating high-impact insights that are changing local policy or implementation, we want to hear about it. [Learn more about projects honored in previous years.](/sdp.cepr.harvard.edu/award) [ Submit a Nomination. arrow\_circle\_right ](https://bit.ly/SDPaward2025)