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This paper reports on a study into the characteristics of excelling students in creative-technical upper secondary VET. Excellence is defined as dynamic and continuously under development. Excelling students in upper secondary VET are a diverse and heterogeneous group. Yet these excelling students have some things in common. Using literature and a multiple case study (N= 4), a framework was developed containing five overarching characteristics of excelling students in creative-technical upper secondary VET: drive, agency, collaboration, craftsmanship, and innovation. Students who participated in the four excellence programmes central in this study, possessed these characteristics to a lesser or greater extent. These characteristics should always be seen in interaction between the students and their excellence programme. The different programmes require different aspects from students. Using these characteristics of excelling students can help in developing programs tailored to the needs of students.