LONG-SERVING individuals who have helped to inspire and motivate youngsters can be nominated for the Lifetime Achievement Award.

This special honour is aimed at recognising and celebrating a special person who has helped people to achieve their best.

The winner is likely to be, but doesn’t have to be, a teacher or head teacher who is approaching the end of his or her career or recently retired.

This positive legacy will be the result of years of striving with a clear sense of purpose to improve learning opportunities for pupils, colleagues and staff.

Enthusiasm, commitment and leadership will be the hallmarks of a lifetime’s work that has encouraged pupils, colleagues and parents and, at the same time, had an impact on the wider community as well as individual schools and the youngsters in them.

Kieran Heakin, last year's recipient, spent 21 years as a head teacher during which he had a profound affect on both his school, St John the Baptist RC Primary, and the community.

“He has had a huge impact on the lives of thousands of children and their families over the years,” said teacher Louise Dunderdale who nominated him.

“He is a great model to all and has worked continuously to improve relations within Burnley. He promoted the ‘building bridges’ project to improve cohesion in our town after the riots which has had a huge impact on the local community."

An ability to engage others and a dedication to continuing personal development for colleagues and children are also qualities looked for by judges in this category.

If you know someone who fits the bill and produced outstanding results we want to hear from you.

Nominations should contain as much detail as possible and supporting information can also be included submitted with it along with the names of other people who may be willing to endorse the application with their own testimonials.

  •  To nominated someone for this award, use the form which can be downloaded from lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/education_zone/schools_awards/