Heavyweight judges of the Kent Teacher of the Year Awards are looking for educational staff with the wow factor.

And there is still time for anyone to place a nomination for an individual or team making a real difference in their school or college. Submissions can be made using the simple online form until noon this Friday (March 1).

The home of heavy plant machinery, Diggerland, is one of the organisations on the judging panel for this year’s event.

Steve Biggs, General Manager of the Medway theme park said: “This year, we are looking for the wow factor. We’re looking for teachers who have developed children over the past 12 months - we’re looking for hard work and dedication.”

He added: “All teaching staff, support staff and school staff can be nominated.”

This marks the second year the attraction in Strood has lent its considerable weight to the Kent Teacher of the Year Awards – and the first year it is backing the London Teacher of the Year Awards which are open to nominations until March 7.

Award categories include primary, secondary, newly-qualified and further education teachers. Anyone associated with a school – including colleagues, parents, and students – are welcome to put forward an unsung hero for an award.

Organised by the KM Charity Team, the event also honours non-teaching members of staff such as midday supervisors, caretakers or office staff, along with volunteers and teams.

The panel of judges, who will select winners for each local authority area as well as overall county champions, include representatives from the Kent, Greenwich and Canterbury Christ Church universities, as well as Ashford International Hotel, Three R’s Teacher Recruitment, Kreston Reeves, Social Enterprise Kent, Loop CR, Kent Sport and Physical Education, Salus, Kent Further Education, Kape HR, KCS, Towergate Insurance, The Education People, Medway Youth Trust, EduKit, Kent and Medway councils and Hornby.

Nominate at www.KentTeacherOfTheYear.co.uk for Kent schools or colleges or www.LondonTeacherOfTheYear.co.uk for the stars of our capital’s schools and further education.

Follow stories about the Kent, Sussex, and London Teacher of the Year Awards on Twitter @InspireSchools1 and use the hashtags #KTOTY or #STOTY or #LTOTY