Our prestigious 2026 Academy Awards celebration event was held on Wednesday 14 October in the Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct at the Southport Sharks Event Centre. The event celebrated our students' extraordinary achievements and showcased the breadth of strengths and talent.
Research suggests celebrating achievements increases our confidence, inspires others, helps us develop a success mindset and boosts positive emotion (Seligman, 2011). Our QAHS community certainly celebrated our world-class school status with many inspirational achievements.
We are so grateful to have the opportunity to share the celebration with our QA community.
Our Year 10 and 11 students were awarded Global Learner awards. These three very different, yet equally valued awards, developed by students, highlight our commitment to valuing both personal and academic excellence, grit in the pursuit of success and positive contribution to our QAHS community. This year the largest number of academic awards were presented to our Year 12 students, representing the pinnacle of their academic achievement throughout their IB journey.
Congratulations to all students who were formally recognised at this special event for their remarkable accomplishments.
A list of all award recipients can be viewed here.
We would particularly like to congratulate our 2026 Academy Optimus, or 'School's best student', Nicole Yuan.
Our 'Academy Optimus' is awarded to our top student, calculated on all fullest and latest examination results and coursework at the end of Term 3.
Our 2026 QAHS Dux and Proxime Accessit (runner up to the Dux) will be announced in January after the release of the final IB results (and re-marking of examinations). 
Alita Lee
Deputy Principal