Qualifications
Access to HE

The Keith Fletcher Prize

The Keith Fletcher Prize is a group of awards given to Access to HE learners for the incredible achievements to their studies and education.

The Keith Fletcher Memorial Presentation was created in memory of Keith Fletcher, who was a committed member of the Access to HE industry and worked for several years for AVAs in the Southwest of England. In an effort to honour Keith Fletcher and his dedication to Access to HE, the Keith Fletcher Awards were created in which Access to HE students celebrated for their own dedication to their Access to HE course and their education. This tradition has now grown and is supported by all AVAs across England and Wales.

There are two categories in which students can be nominated:

Outstanding Academic Achievement

Students proposed in this category should have excelled in their academic study by producing assessed work of a consistently outstanding quality whilst on their Access courses. 

In this category one example (copies are acceptable or photographs for artwork) of any individual piece of work which could illustrate this achievement, or statement containing sufficient detail about the range and type of work submitted by the student and their performance. 

Supporting Statement

For ‘Outstanding academic achievement’ the statement should contain enough commentary and detail about the range and type of work submitted by the student and their performance. Where possible this could include statements made by tutors in their feedback on the work. 

Supporting evidence 

For ‘Outstanding academic achievement’ it is expected that close reference is made to one or more (up to a maximum of three) pieces of assessed work in the supporting statement and that a copy of that work be submitted in an electronic format. Scanned copies of hand written work or of word-processed work with handwritten tutor comments are required. No paper copies will be accepted. 

PLEASE NOTE– all work submitted should be anonymised – the filename should include the AVA name and/or student name for matching documents to nominations but submitted work must have all identifying marks removed, including logos, student, tutor, provider and AVA names, etc. All nominations and pieces of work are anonymised for the judging process and if there are logos and/or other identifying marks remaining on feedback sheets, assignment briefs, etc, these may be excluded from the information supplied to the judges. Word documents of original student work and tutor feedback can be submitted.

Examples of work submitted as evidence might include copies of essays, projects, research, reports, artefacts produced by the student as recorded in photographs, video clips etc, recordings of student performance, personal writing (poems, stories, other texts).

Download the application form here

Outstanding Commitment to Study

Students in this category should have shown outstanding commitment to their Access studies, perhaps in the face of difficult and challenging personal circumstances. 

Students in this category should have shown evidence of some or all the following:

  • outstanding commitment to their Access studies, perhaps in the face of difficult and challenging personal circumstances

  • having made an inspirational journey which demonstrates the life transforming power of learning

  • individual achievement beyond standard expectations

  • clear evidence of extra effort above and beyond that which would normally be required of a student

Supporting Statement

The statement should be a detailed explanation of how the nominee meets the criteria above. It should give an indication of the types of barriers that the student overcame. It would also be helpful to identify any skills that the student displayed in pursuing their studies. Whilst the privacy of the student should be respected, it will help the panel of judges to assess the nomination, if some detail regarding the challenges facing the student and the way in which they met these challenges, is provided. For nominations in this category to be taken forward there must be a Personal Statement from the student themselves included with the nomination.

Supporting evidence is not required for this catagory.

Download the application form here

Nominations for 2021-2022

All nominations must be sent to marketing@aimgroup.org.uk.

The nominations timeline is as follows:

Applications open September 1 2022
Applications closed October 31 2022
AIM chooses nominations Friday 25 November 2022
Judging takes place Monday 5 December 2022 - Friday 13 January 2023
Winners announced W/C 23 January 2023 
Prize presentation Spring 2023 TBC

Previous Nominations

Stacey Gentry
Diploma title: Social Science
Course Leader: Cheryl Huter
Burton and South Derbyshire College

“Stacey is basically the kind of adult learner Access was made for!  She continually amazed us with her determination and consistently high grades. She was also a great support for other learners; taking time to help other members of the group both academically and emotionally.
Stacey embraced the whole ethos of Access, growing both as a person and as a scholar.  Her independent research and commitment to the course were astounding.” Cheryl Huter

Runner-up

Marijan Van Den Bergh
Diploma title: Law
Course Director: Sharon Sugden
Aspire Access Courses

"..She has consistently worked hard to gain high grades and one of her assessors even said that a psychology unit of hers was the best submission he had ever seen..
Marijan has demonstrated her determination her dedication to completing the Access to Higher Education Law Diploma so that she could pursuit her ambition of a career in the Law sector.  She accepted a place at the University of Belfast and was due to start her law degree undergraduate programme in September 2021.” Sharon Sugden