Through two literacy-based grant programs, Penguin Random House, in partnership with the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), is thrilled to recognize the nation’s most dynamic and resourceful teachers who use their creativity to inspire and successfully instill a lifelong love of reading and poetry in students.
The National Teacher Award for Lifelong Readers honors a teacher who inspires their students to read all genres of writing while the Maya Angelou Teacher Award for Poetry honors Ms. Angelou’s legacy by recognizing a teacher who inspires their students to love poetry. Both awards include a $10,000 grant for the top recipient, with the National Teacher Award for Lifelong Readers including second and third place grants for $5,000 and $2,500, respectively. Honorable mentions will receive book donations for their classrooms from Penguin Random House. Since the awards were created nearly a decade ago, nearly $200,000 in teacher grants have been awarded to date.
If this sounds like you, or a teacher you know, consider applying for or nominating someone for the NCTE and Penguin Random House Teacher Award for Lifelong Readers or the Maya Angelou Teacher Award for Poetry. The deadline is May 31, 2020. Apply here.
The program’s nominations are open to full- and part-time teachers in public schools across the United States. Winners are awarded cash grants and book donations to help further their innovative reading programs and to disseminate them to other teachers around the country. All award recipients are announced at the NCTE conference annually each year in November.
Learn more about previous Maya Angelou Teacher Award Winners here.
Learn more about previous National Teacher Award for Lifelong Readers Winners here.
