ELTon awards
The ELTons (English Language Teaching Innovation Awards) are international awards given annually by the British Council that recognise and celebrate innovation in the field of English language teaching. They reward educational resources that help English language learners and teachers to achieve their goals using innovative content, methods or media. The ELTons date from 2003 and the 2018 sponsors of the awards are Cambridge English Language Assessment and IELTS. Applications are submitted by the end of November each year and they are judged by an independent panel of ELT experts, using the Delphi Technique. The shortlist is published in March and the winners announced at a ceremony in London in June. The 2018 awards will be held in a new venue, Savoy Place, Institute of Engineering and Technology, London, UK.
2003 winners
- Tim Kelly and Hilary Nesi — University of Warwick
- Fiona Joseph and Peter Travis — Flo-Joe
- Martin Mulloy — BBC Worldwide
2004 winners
- Richard Cauldwell — speechinaction (CD-ROM)
- Macmillan Education Dictionaries Team — Macmillan Education, range of products (book, CD-ROM and online editions)
- Scott Thornbury, Oxford University Press — Natural Grammar
2005 winners
- Vanessa Reilly, Oxford University Press — Three in a tree (book and multimedia package)
- Simon Mellor-Clark and Yvonne Baker de Altamirano, Macmillan Education — Campaign 1 coursebooks
- Sophie Ioannou-Georgiou and Pavlos Pavlou, Oxford University Press — Assessing Young Learners
2006 winners
- Corony Edwards and Jane Willis, University of Birmingham and Aston University — Teachers Exploring Tasks
- Carol Read, Ana Soberon, Maria Toth and Elisenda Papiol, Macmillan Education — Bugs (multimedia course)
- Stuart Rubenstein, Greta Grinfeld, Sally McCrae, Emma Fisher, Camden College of English— "English Language Cultural Experience"
2007 winners
- Alison Sharpe, Professor Ronald Carter and Professor Michael McCarthy, Cambridge University Press — The Cambridge Grammar of English (CD-ROM and book)
- David Warr, Language Garden — Language Gardening (CD-ROM)
- Nicky Hockly and Gavin Dudeney, The Consultants-E, ICT in the Classroom (online course)
2009 winners
- Sarah Bromley, Sarah Johnson, Helen Cunningham, Gordon Knowles — 'Magazines Plus', Mary Glasgow Magazines
2010 winners
- Russell Stanard — www.teachertrainingvideos.com
- Mary Slattery, Catherine Kneafsey, Lucy Allen, Julia Bell — Teaching with Bear: Using puppets in the language classroom with young learners, Oxford University Press
- Scott Thornbury, Luke Meddings, Lindsay Clandfield, Mike Burghall — Teaching Unplugged, Delta Publishing
- James Thomas, Martina Pavlickova and Martina Sindelarova Skupenova — Global Issues in the ELT Classroom, Spolecnost pro Fair Trade
- Stuart Wiffin and Helen Gibbons — Award For Innovative Writing
2011 winners
- Neil Edgeller, Senjuti Masud, Sharif Sadique — Rinku's World, BBC Learning English
- Ben Glynne, Dan Humm Soriano, David Wilkins — Communication Station, United International College
- Rob Carter, Alice Castle, Abeer Hassan, Sean Keegan, Karim Kouchouk, Abigail Wincott — BBCe!, BBC Learning English
- Marcos Benevides, Adam Gray — Fiction in Action: Whodunit, ABAX ELT
- Simona Petrescu — Macmillan Education Award For Innovative Writing
- Brian Abbs and Ingrid Freebairn — Lifetime Achievement Award
2012 winners
- Kate Khoury, Sarah Raybould and Louise Salim — Sensing Humour in English
- Nik Peachey — Bell Blended Learning for ELT, Bell
- Macmillan Education— Sounds: The Pronunciation App, Macmillan Education
- Kyle Mawer, Graham Stanley — Digital Play: Computer games and language aims, Delta Publishing
- L2 — Wordready Academic English, L2
- Colour Trick — The Colour of Words, Colour Trick S.l.
- Alan Maley — Lifetime Achievement Award
2013 winners
- Mary Glasgow Scholastic — Mary Glasgow
- Y.L.Teresa Ting — CLIL - Biology Towards IGCSE
- Herbert Puchta and Günter Gerngross — Hooray! Let’s play! Helbling Languages
- Kieran Donaghy — "Film English"
- Richard Cauldwell — Cool Speech: Hot Listening, Cool Pronunciation, Speech in Action/Firsty Group
- English in Action — English in Action, Bangladesh
- Brita Haycraft — Lifetime Achievement Award
2014 winners
- Excellence in Course Innovation - Dyslexia for Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (Dystefl) by Dystefl Project
- Innovation in Learner Resources - Academic Skills Series by Collins
- Innovation in Teacher Resources - The Disabled Access Friendly campaign by Katie Quartano and Paul Shaw
- Digital Innovation - Doctors Speak Up: Communication and Language Skills for International Medical Graduates by R. Woodward-Kron, C. Bow, C. Fraser, J. Pill, E. Flynn
- Local Innovation - P.A.L.S Scheme, (Promoting Acceptance of Language Students) - Country Cousins Ltd
- The Macmillan Education Award for New Talent in Writing -Compass (Upper Intermediate) by Elizabeth (Lizzie) Pinard
- British Council The Lifetime Achievement Award - Michael Swan
Described at the ceremony as a name synonymous with “must-have texts” and “an influence on a generation of students”, influential writer and award-winning poet, Michael Swan was announced as the winner of the lifetime achievement award for his contribution to English language teaching.
2015 winners
- Excellence in Course Innovation - Oxford Discover by Oxford University Press
- Innovation in Learner Resources - Oxford Learner’s Dictionary of Academic English by Oxford University Press, with Paragon Software GmbH (app)
- Innovation in Teacher Resources - "Life Skills" by Macmillan Education
- Digital Innovation - Little Bridge by Little Bridge
- Local Innovation -Talk English by Manchester Adult Education Service, Manchester City Council with The Department for Communities and Local Government (UK)
- The Macmillan Education Award for New Talent in Writing - EAP Shakespeare Dr Chris Lima
- The British Council Lifetime Achievement Award - Henry Widdowson
The 2015 British Council Lifetime Achievement Award winner, Henry Widdowson, is a leading authority in applied linguistics and in communicative language teaching, an approach which stresses the importance of interaction, authentic, natural language, a focus on the learning process, and on the student’s personal experiences both inside and outside the classroom.
2016 winners
- Excellence in Course Innovation - Keynote by National Geographic Learning with Cengage Learning
- Innovation in Learner Resources - Literacy for Active Citizenship by Learning Unlimited LTD
- Innovation in Teacher Resources - Digital Video – A Manual for Language Teachers by PeacheyPublications.com
- Digital Innovation - Movies: Enjoy Language by Archimedes Inspiration, a.s.
- Local Innovation - Teaching English in Africa by East African Educational Publishers Ltd.
- The Macmillan Education Award for New Talent in Writing - "Academic English for the 21st Century Learner" by Aylin Graves
- The British Council Lifetime Achievement Award - "Catherine Walter"
Catherine Walter is known by many thousands of teachers and students worldwide as a teacher, lecturer and researcher, most recently as University lecturer in Applied Linguistics at the Department of Education and Fellow of Linacre College, University of Oxford and Vice-Principal of Linacre College (until 2015), as well as Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Education, University of London, and at academic and teachers’ conferences in over 30 countries worldwide. She is perhaps most renowned by the global ELT community, as the writer of many significant resources on the bookshelves of classrooms worldwide. These include: The Cambridge English Course, The New Cambridge English Course, The Good Grammar Book and How English Works (co-written with Michael Swan). Over the years, her expertise has been sought by the Bell Educational Trust, the British Publishers Association, the University Council for General and Applied Linguistics and the British Council. Catherine Walter has a passion for equality, holding welfare, equality and equal opportunities positions at the University of Oxford and the Institute of Education. Catherine Walter was also the first female chair of the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) and then president.
2017 Winners
- Excellence in Course Innovation - Students for Peace by Richmond
- Innovation in Learner Resources - Develop EAP: A Sustainable Academic English Skills Course by Averil Bolster & Peter Levrai
- Innovation in Teacher Resources - Tigtag CLIL by Twig World
- Digital Innovation - www.textinspector.com by Stephen Bax with Versantus IT Services and Web design
- Local Innovation in partnership with Cambridge Assessment English - Hausa-to-English Talking Book 1 by MAVIS COMPUTEL LIMITED
- The British Council Lifetime Achievement Award - "Professor Ronald Carter MBE"
Professor Carter (University of Nottingham, MBE for services to education) has been a major positive influence in English Language Teaching, with a service spanning several decades. He has written and edited over forty books and over one hundred articles, including the very influential Cambridge Grammar of English (CUP, 2006), co-written with Michael McCarthy, which won the 2007 British Council English Language Innovation Award. Ron has been a pioneer in the application of corpora (especially spoken ones) to the development of pedagogical materials and teacher resources. Professor Ron Carter has been at Nottingham University since 1979 and has been Director of the Centre for English Language Education and Head of the School of English. He was a founder member of PALA (Poetics and Linguistics Association) in the 1980s and one of its first chairs. From 1989 to 1992 he directed nationwide the Language in the National Curriculum (LINC) Project. He was elected a life member of NATE (National Association for the Teaching of English) in 2007. He is on the editorial boards of numerous international academic and professional journals. He has lectured in over 40 countries world-wide. He was also chair of BAAL (British Association for Applied Linguistics) from 2003-2006 and was recently elected a fellow of the British Academy for Social Sciences. He received an MBE for services to local and national higher education in the 2009 New Year's Honours list and in 2013 was awarded an honorary doctorate (DUniv) from the Open University for his contributions to the field of applied linguistics. He is currently closely involved with the work of Cambridge University Press Syndicates as a member of the Operating Board of the Press and as chair of the Education and ELT Publishing Committee. He also holds an affiliated lectureship in the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages at the University of Cambridge.
2018 Winners
- Excellence in Course Innovation - Get Set, Go! Phonics by Oxford University Press
- Innovation in Learner Resources - Tim's Pronunciation Workshop by BBC Learning English
- Innovation in Teacher Resources - PronPack 1-4 by Mark Hancock
- Digital Innovation - Learn Languages with Ruby Rei by Wibbu
- Local Innovation in partnership with Cambridge Assessment English - EAL Assessment Framework for Schools by The Bell Foundation with Prof. Constant Leung, King’s College London; Dr. Michael Evans and Dr. Yongcan Liu, Cambridge University (Cambridge University Technical Services Limited)
- The British Council Lifetime Achievement Award - "Tessa Woodward"
Tessa Woodward is an ELT consultant, a teacher, teacher trainer, and for many years was the Professional Development Co-ordinator at Hilderstone College, Broadstairs, Kent, UK. She has trained teachers in Japan, Switzerland, the UK, USA, and, for short stints, in many European countries. She regularly gives presentations at ELT conferences. She is the founder editor of The Teacher Trainer journal, now in its 31st volume, for Pilgrims, Canterbury, UK. She is a Past President and International Ambassador of IATEFL and founded the IATEFL Special Interest Group for Teacher Trainers (now the SIG T Ed/TT). She is the author of many books and articles for language teachers and for teacher trainers. Tessa is also the founder of The Fair List. Her qualifications include an RSA Diploma in TEFL, and an M. Phil in Education from Exeter University.