By Mike Baker BBC education correspondent

"And the winner is...". Yes, it's another awards ceremony. Celebrities by the yard, television cameras, dazzling lights, palpable tension and whoops of delight.

But this time there was no sobbing, no fake humility, no embarrassing histrionics. Genuine emotion, yes.

Selecting a short-list from the very many regional winners was an agonisingly difficult task

Diffidence, perhaps. An awkwardness about being in the spotlight, certainly.

For this was not the Oscars but the Platos, the Teaching Awards.

The national awards ceremony was held in London's West End, the culmination of previous regional competitions. They were televised earlier this month.

Controversy

The Teaching Awards - the brainchild of film producer Lord Puttnam - are a growing success. Yet they remain controversial. The Scottish teacher unions have withheld their support, so Scotland is excluded.

Even in England, Wales and Northern Ireland there are many head teachers and teachers who do not feel comfortable with the idea of a competition to pick the best teacher in a variety of categories.

The awards were the brainchild of Lord Puttnam

I think they are wrong. But I should also declare an interest: I was, for the first time, a national judge at this year's awards.

There were moments when I regretted having agreed to do it. Selecting a short-list from the very many regional winners was an agonisingly difficult task.

It was impossible to be 100% sure of the right decision when all the nominees had devoted their lives to teaching, every one of them going way beyond the call of duty.

Time in school

Then there were the school visits. Did I really want to spend half a day watching lessons in schools as far apart as Cheshire and Sussex?

I spend a lot of time in schools as it is but this proved different.

Usually I am in and out very quickly, mostly accompanied by a television crew, and very often focusing on problems of finance, discipline or work overload.

The judging provided a rare opportunity to sit and watch excellent, inspirational teaching.

I was also able to listen to the comments of teachers, head teachers, governors, students and - most unusual and inspirational of all - the views of ex-pupils.

Let me say, right away, I started out with a fairly positive view of teachers.

I knew they were not all brilliant. As in any job, there are some who are coasting or who have lost their enthusiasm. I'm sure a few are struggling.

But despite that, each time I walked away from a judging visit my admiration for the best teachers was increased.

Widening horizons

Moreover there are certain images which I will never forget. Each of them reflects well on a teacher, a school and indeed the whole profession.

No-one can claim to have found the definitive holy grail of teaching

There was the secondary school teacher whose assembly I watched. The pupils were completely engrossed by his enthusiasm and humour - at 8.45 in the morning!

Even more memorable, though, was the procession of successful adults who took time off work to come and tell us what an inspiration he had been to them.

This was not an affluent area. Many people's ambitions were lower than their abilities.

But this teacher, by offering law and politics classes in his lunch hour, had changed lives. Now, as solicitors and barristers, his former students wanted others to know how much they owed him.

Energetic lessons

Or I could tell you about the primary school music teacher whose animated, energetic lessons left me floating on air.

Have you ever seen an entire class, including the boys at the back, completely focused on their teacher's expressive face and voice? I have now. It was magical.

I could go on. There were head teachers who, at the very end of their careers, were still innovative, energetic and imaginative.

Their influence went far beyond the school walls, extending their ideas and influence to other schools and to the wider community, young and old alike.

Surely if journalists, and other outsiders, can see and talk about teachers like these the whole profession gains.

Critics

I know the objections - teaching is a team effort and it is unfair to pick out individuals.

The critics worry that it will make teachers competitive with one another or that it will prove divisive with unfair and subjective judgements placing one teacher over another.

But surely this is nonsense. Of course the judgements are subjective. No-one can claim to have found the definitive holy grail of teaching.

Award winners in 2002

Outstanding new teacher: Kesner Ridge Primary teacher of the year: Sara Brigg Secondary teacher of the year: Martin Williams Lifetime achievement: Elizabeth Pescops Science teacher: David Mason Primary school leadership: Diane Maple Secondary school leadership: Robert Jennings School and community involvement: Robert Huck Excellence in special needs teaching: Janet Bourne Teaching assistant of the year: Penny Jones

But if the process puts the spotlight on a number of different ways in which teaching is working everyone wins.

Teachers are not very good at blowing their own trumpet. The nominees were all awkward about being picked out.

One of them was so embarrassed he clearly found it difficult to meet the judges at all. He wanted only to talk about others, not himself.

Every one of them stressed the support of colleagues. As judges we knew that good teamwork, support or leadership played a big part in each nominee's success.

The Teaching Awards can only be a snapshot, a tiny slice of the total. No one pretends to absolute objectivity.

But what shone out from all our visits was that the people who really wanted recognition of their success was not the nominees themselves but those who had proposed them, especially the parents, pupils and former students.

There is still a reluctance from many schools to take part in the Teaching Awards. It seems a shame that Scottish teachers have, in effect, been excluded by their unions.

Yes, there are individual winners on the night, but in the longer run it is teaching as a whole which benefits.