1. The NDNA Awards 2025 are open to NDNA members only and will open for registration and voting on 30 September 2024

2. Closing date for entries is 10 January 2025. Entries received after this deadline will not be accepted, unless an extension to the deadline is implemented

3. Only entries received online through the NDNA Nursery Awards website will be accepted

4. If an allegation or complaint against any awards registrant is received, the setting will be contacted, and a formal investigation may be conducted by NDNA. NDNA reserves the right to withdraw any nursery from the awards process if it has reasonable grounds to suspect that fraudulent voting has occurred or if it considers there has been any deliberate attempt to manipulate the result and if a complaint is made against the nursery that warrants further investigation

5. NDNA board members/trustees and staff and their early years settings are not eligible to enter

6. 2024 winners of both regional and national awards are not eligible for entry to the same award in 2025 e.g. A winner of the 2024 Nursery of the Year award North cannot enter the same award in 2025 but can enter another award such as Practitioner of the Year. A winner of Practitioner of the Year 2024 cannot enter the same award in 2025 but could enter Manager of the Year, if applicable

7. Only one parent/carer vote per registered child at the nursery will be accepted

8. All entrants will receive an acknowledgment email after submitting each award category

9. Shortlisting of all awards will take place during February/March 2025. Interviews by telephone and/or face to face and/or video call and/or nursery visits may be conducted by NDNA staff or their representatives to provide additional information for the judging panel

10. The decision taken by the judging panel will be final and no further correspondence will be entered into

11. The prizes are as stated and cannot be changed

12. NDNA Nursery Awards ceremony will take place in summer 2025 where the winners will be announced and subsequently published on the NDNA website, social media, and in the NDNA membership magazine

13. All entrants must be willing to take part in any publicity for the NDNA Awards

14. For all awards, the early years setting may be asked to provide additional information after their submission and after voting has closed

15. NDNA cannot accept any responsibility whatsoever for any technical failure or malfunction or any other problem with any system, server, provider or otherwise which may result in any votes being lost or not properly registered or recorded

16. Anyone directly connected in any way with the delivery of the Awards, including NDNA trustees and staff are not eligible to vote

17. Communication. We will send you emails about your entry into the NDNA Awards. If you are shortlisted, we will contact you to invite you to our awards ceremony in June 2025 and to request your support for publicity for the awards

18. Public voting is updated each morning by 10am. If you have submitted entry to a new category after 3.30pm, your entry will not show for public voting until the following day once the system has updated.

On the awards closing day, if your entry is for a public voting award, it needs to be submitted by 4pm at the latest to be updated on the system and be available for public voting. Public voting awards received onto our system after 4pm, will not be made available for public voting. 

Awards specific terms and conditions

The awards for 2025 fall under three categories: public voting, evidence-based and nomination-based awards. Please see the awards categories page for more information.

NDNA Nursery of the Year regions

1. We award five regional and one overall winner for Nursery of the Year. We also award an international setting. The UK regions are: North of England, Central England, South of England, Scotland and Wales

2. To see if you are included in the North, Central and South of England categories for Nursery of the Year, see the map (right) or as follows: