Announcing the cechat Award Recipients 2025
We're excited to celebrate the incredible success of the cechat pilot!
The cechat team couldn't let the 14-month pilot conclude without recognising the outstanding work being done across Catholic schools in Australia. We were delighted to see such high engagement and so many fantastic experiences across all participating dioceses and schools.
Over 12,000 Catholic education staff created a wide range of agents, and reviewing the impact of cechat through the lens of their work was a joy. All award categories were highly contested, demonstrating the depth of innovation and commitment.
The award categories recognised excellence in several key areas:
🏅 Primary School Excellence: Celebrates a primary school where cechat is a living part of the learning culture, using AI as a scaffold for curiosity, language, and inclusive engagement, not a shortcut.
🏅 Secondary School Excellence: Recognises a secondary school demonstrating pedagogical depth, curriculum alignment, and student agency via cechat, showing how AI extends, not dilutes, disciplinary thinking.
🏅 Most Innovative Agent: Honours creativity and courageous experimentation by the teacher/team who built an agent that redefined possibilities, blending pedagogy, ethics, and imagination.
🏅 Best Educational Agent: Awarded to the designer of the agent with the clearest measurable impact on learning, improving student engagement, understanding, or teacher efficiency.
🏅 Best Administrative Agent: Recognises the brilliance of an agent designed to save staff time, reduce repetition, or improve consistency in school/diocesan systems or processes.
🏅 Best Diverse Learning Agent: Celebrates an empathetic and inclusive agent ensuring every learner can thrive within the cechat ecosystem, regardless of ability, background, or learning profile.
🏅 Diocesan Collaboration: Recognises a diocese that modelled systemic AI leadership through professional learning, research collaboration, and open sharing of good practice.
🏅 Impact Award - Overall Excellence: The highest honour, awarded to the school, team, or individual exemplifying the spirit of “AI with Heart”: co-design, integrity, measurable impact, and human-centred innovation.
Congratulations to all the cechat award winners, whose names are revealed in the announcement video! Your dedication and outstanding work across Catholic schools in Australia are truly inspiring.
