Arts Award - Certificate information

For orders submitted from Thursday 1 May 2025, we are returning to issuing paper certificates for all Arts Award levels— including Explore, Bronze, Silver, and Gold. You will no longer need to submit your young people’s email addresses.

The information below refers to the current process that applies to all orders submitted up to and including 30 April 2025. For all orders submitted from 1 May 2025, certificates will be posted in paper format to the centre's main registered address within 4 weeks from submitting your entries (or 8 weeks, if moderation is required).

Discover certificates

Discover certificates are sent within four weeks from the date you entered young people for Arts Award Discover via the centre portal. Certificates are posted in paper format to the centre's main registered address. Tracking information is sent by email to the centre's main email address at the point of dispatch.

Explore/Bronze/Silver/Gold certificates

• Digital certificates

Certificates for Explore, Bronze, Silver and Gold are issued in digital format within the following timeframes of the date you entered the young people for Arts Award successfully via the centre portal:

• within four weeks, if your centre has not been selected to be moderated
• within eight weeks, if your centre has been selected to be moderated

Visit the Moderation page for further details.

Important note: Digital certificates are issued directly to the email address provided for each young person at the point of enrolment. This must be the email address of the young person (if aged 18 and over) or their parent/guardian’s (if under 18) to enable us to issue the certificate directly to the young person and ensure their ongoing access to their qualification. For this reason, centre or advisers' emails cannot be accepted.

Centres who have specific challenges to gathering email addresses for digital certificates, for example, young people who are in care, should contact the Arts Award team to discuss alternative arrangements.

• Paper certificates

Candidates - Once the digital certificate has been issued, young people can purchase a paper certificate if they wish to hold an original hard copy. The content and quality of our paper certificates have not changed. Instructions about optional purchase of a paper certificate will be provided in the email sent when the digital certificate has been issued. The cost for purchasing a paper certificate is £5 (including postage within the United Kingdom).

Centres - Arts Award centres also have the option to order paper certificates on behalf of the young people once their digital certificates have been issued. The cost is £5 per certificate for 1-4 certificates and centres receive a discount if they order five or more certificates from the same order: £4 per certificate for 5-49 certificates, £3 for 50+ certificates. Centres can order paper certificates by following this link: https://mycertificates.trinitycollege.com/centres.

Instructions on how to order paper certificates are available in our Centre Operational Guide.

Paper certificates are delivered within two weeks of the order date.