There should be a clear, well-structured argument, your claim to excellence, underpinning the narrative. Make your context, teaching philosophy and claim clear at the beginning of the application. The narrative needs to showcase your practice, your relationship with, and impact on students, as well as your impact more broadly on higher education.

Your writing needs to be succinct; awards and citations have a very limited page length. It is also important to stay strictly within the parameters and formatting requirements set out in the guidelines.

While an application draws on elements of scholarly writing, a purely academic, formal tone will not engage the assessor. The tone should be personal and reflective, but at the same time assured and confident. To achieve this balanced tone, remember to focus on your students and their learning. While the application should be written in the first person to enable the assessor to know who you are, be mindful not to overuse “I”, your focus should be on “My students”. The claims should be about your teaching (what you did) having an impact on your students’ learning experiences and outcomes – not you.

Write in clear, plain language avoiding the use of institutional jargon. Align your application with the citation/award guidelines by incorporating the wording of the criteria in your application. Clearly articulate how you have met each criterion.

A citation or award application has to include evidence that supports your claims to excellence. The evidence should come from a variety of sources, but you should start by demonstrating how your strategy was informed by scholarly evidence drawn from teaching and learning literature, as well as initiatives in your discipline that inform your approaches. Explain how they relate to the approaches you are describing. Think of this as input evidence – how did scholarship reflected in learning and teaching literature as well as your own discipline inform the design of what you did?

Output or outcome evidence is equally important. For example, SELT data (including an interpretation of the tabulated data), student and peer testimonials, evidence of institutional recognition, peer recognition, and (ideally) recognition beyond your own institution. For example, if you have been involved in collaboration with ACU Stakeholders, such as schools/clinics, Catholic organisations, charities, employers, include feedback and recognition from these partners that supports your claim to excellence.

Evidence should also demonstrate sustained impact and excellence (the length of time required, and degree of excellence depends on the citation/award you are applying for).

Evidence should be integrated and embedded into the narrative to support your claims: explain the significance of the evidence in relation to your claims and context.