The marketing efforts of the Heart of Yorkshire Education Group were recognised on a national scale as part of the College Marketing Network’s FE First Awards.
Hosted at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Birmingham, the awards were presented by Baasit Siddiqui who rose to fame after appearing on Gogglebox.
Acknowledging the success of the Group’s Open Events, colleagues from the Group’s Marketing & Creative Team were awarded the Silver Award for Events Management (sponsored by Student CRM).
Following the merger of Selby College and Wakefield College in March 2022, the Heart of Yorkshire Education Group’s Open Events were reimagined to reflect the Group’s newly unified brand, including the elevation of Castleford College to full college status.
Through a multi-channel marketing campaign, the Group’s Marketing Team leveraged both digital and in-person channels to effectively reach prospective school leavers, adult learners, apprentices and higher education students.
This resulted in a huge 19% increase in visitors of prospective learners and overall student numbers for 23/24 grew by 879 from the previous year – achieving a 9.1% rise in student numbers, representing a growth of £3.4million in funding.
The Group’s Marketing & Creative Team were also Highly Commended for the Team of the Year award (sponsored by Gray Manning & Partners), acknowledging their efforts post-merger to combine their skills and knowledge to become a collaborative, high-performing and results-driven team.
Covering a vast remit, the Department includes marketing, communications, PR, campaigns, web development, social media, events, videography, design and printing. The structure and skillset of the Team ensures that it can deliver an end-to-end service, right from the initial ideas stage to copywriting, designing and printing.
The Team has also recently been shortlisted for the Marketing Excellence Award and the Team of the Year Award at the Goole and Howdenshire Business Awards 2025.
The Heart of Yorkshire Education Group’s Creative & Marketing Team with their awards
Lorraine Cross, Group Executive Director for External Partnerships, Skills and Apprenticeships at the Heart of Yorkshire Education Group, said: “It’s fantastic to have the efforts and hard work of our Marketing & Creative Team acknowledged at such a prestigious event in the sector. The Team has worked cohesively since the start of the merger, combining their expertise and vast skillset to deliver targeted and effective marketing campaigns which have raised the profile of the organisation and achieved a significant increase in our Open Event attendee numbers and our overall student numbers. This has been integral to the success of the merger and our future growth as an organisation.”