It is in both these respects that BETT has chosen to shortlist us for their 2011 BETT Awards:

BETT Awards 2011

BETT, as any fule kno, is “the world’s largest technology in education show.” The awards fall on the first night of the four-day show. Any fan of ed. tech. who has been to the awards or the show in recent years will attest to the scale, snazziness, and the impressive number of Madonna-style headsets worn by shiny-faced presenters in front of tennis-court-sized interactive whiteboards.

In the time since Whizz started attending – first as guests, and for the last five years as stand-holders – we’ve seen the event get glossier and more corporate. We don’t yet have Madonna-style headsets (The God of Whizz wouldn’t be seen dead, etc.) but we always have interested packs of teachers, parents, and students stopping by, some just to say hi, and many more to find out what makes us tick.

This interest goes both ways, and that’s why we come every year. We love to find out what we’re doing right, and what we can improve on. So if you want to bend our ears about Maths-Whizz, or tell us what you love, or just put faces to names in the Whizz team, then make sure you’re at BETT 2011 at London’s Olympia, 12-15th January.

Who knows, we may even have a shiny award to show you!

You can read up about our 2010 BETT Show and our previous triumphant BETT Award showing.

UPDATE (22/10/10): Bett Awards official shortlist now available to view online.

The awards for which Whizz is a finalist are:

This is fab news, but for those of you not fully au fait with the world of educational technology, some background might be in order. The BETT awards accompany the annual British Educational Training and Technology show, held at London Olympia.

The BETT show is generally held to be Europe’s largest educational technology event, and is a huge draw for forward-thinking educators and industry from the rest of the world.

It’s therefore an honour to be shortlisted alongside companies like Encyclopedia Britannica and Promethean.

We’ll keep you posted on how we get on. Keep your fingers crossed!

UPDATE: Visit us at Stand R34 from the 13th to the 16th January 2009.

UPDATE (20/01/10): Get the report from the BETT Show 2010 and our showing at Wednesday’s awards ceremony, with pics!