Submit your Award Entry
How to complete your Curious Minds Award log of evidence and submit your school's Award entry.
New Log of Evidence Template Requirement
New Log of Evidence Template Requirement
Your log of evidence must be presented as a slideshow using the SFI Curious Minds Log of Evidence Template this year. These templates are available to download below:
Silver Award log of evidence template (English) (Irish)
2024/25 Deadlines
Platinum Award Sign-Up Deadline: 5pm Friday 18 October 2024 (or before if capacity is reached)
Submission of pre-Platinum application form: 5pm Friday 25 October 2024
Submission of all Award applications: 5pm Friday 2 May 2025
Register your school
To apply for a Curious Minds Award, you'll first need to register your school with us. If you haven't already done so, register now.
Our Platinum Award (development project) is limited to 30 schools this year, so please apply early if your school is interested in submitting for this level.
Submit your entry
Once you've registered, you will receive a confirmation email with your SESAME system login details. You will use SESAME to submit your Curious Minds Awards entry.
When you log in to SESAME, you can choose to apply for either a Silver, Gold or Platinum level award.
A school can only apply for one level of Award in a year.
How to use SESAME
We only accept applications via SESAME. We cannot accept email applications, nor hard copy applications or applications saved to a USB, CD, or DVD.
This video guides you through the process of completing your application for the SFI Curious Minds Award using the online application system SESAME.
Log of Evidence
When you apply, you'll be asked to supply a log of evidence. This is proof of the STEM work you've outlined in your application.
Your log must show proof of learners engaging in STEM. Teacher accounts and lesson plans are not enough.
How to create a log of evidence
Download the relevant Curious Minds Awards Log of Evidence Template (listed on the top of this page) for your chosen Award level. Schools can use PowerPoint or Google Slides to edit the template slides.
The Curious Minds Awards Template should is be divided into the following sections:
- Science
- Technology
- Engineering
- Maths
- STEM Show and Tell
Each section should show the evidence you're providing for each activity. Please label these clearly so the judging panel can match each piece of evidence to each activity.
You can choose to add any of the following media to the slideshow template as evidence that learners have engaged in STEM:
- photos
- videos
- written student accounts
- student quotes
The finalised slideshow should be saved as a PDF or PowerPoint and uploaded to the online application platform SESAME. Blogs or school websites etc will not be accepted as evidence this year, however screen grabs and links of these can be added to the template.
Platinum Award applications
If you're applying for a Platinum Award, you will need to include evidence of improvement as a result of your work.
You can submit this as a slideshow. Your slideshow might include written reflections, quotes, photos and videos.