The NEA Education Support Professional of the Year Award recognizes the contributions of Education Support Professionals to their schools, communities, and their profession. The award is presented to a member of the NEA who demonstrates outstanding accomplishments and reflects the contributions of ESP to public education. The award is presented jointly by the National Education Association and the Gardner Rich Foundation of Chicago, Illinois.
Nomination Deadline: December 9, 2011 | Memo | Guidelines | Application sample | Checklist | Data Sheet
Award
Each year, one nominee receives the NEA ESP of the Year Award, which includes all-expense paid travel to the 2012 NEA Education Support Professional National Conference and a $10,000 personal cash prize. The Gardner Rich Foundation of Chicago, Illinois presents this monetary award. The winner will also be invited to attend and address the NEA Representative Assembly and be appointed to the following year’s NEA ESP of the Year selection committee. Expenses for these activities are paid for by NEA.
Eligibility
All current Education Support Professional members of an NEA local affiliate or bargaining unit who have been NEA members for three years as of January 15th of the award year are eligible. Nominees must be an “active” member at the time of selection as their state or local nominee.
Individuals must be nominated by their state association through an ESP award system or by their local association if a state award system does not exist (see Nomination & Selection procedure).
Nomination and Selection Procedure
Nominations
State Affiliates: Each state affiliate may submit only one nominee through its state ESP award system. A state ESP award system is defined as one developed by a state association that gathers nominations through local affiliates and selects one statewide award recipient. Criteria for the state award may be designed by the individual state and must not conflict with the national award’s criteria and purpose.
Local Affiliates: If a state affiliate does not have an ESP award system in place, then local affiliates may submit only one nomination directly to NEA. Local affiliates are urged to send a copy of their nominations to the state affiliate.
Selection
All nominations must comply with the nomination guidelines. The NEA Selection Committee will review all nominations to ensure that eligibility and submission requirements are met. The NEA Selection Committee will forward its recommendation to the NEA President for presentation to the NEA Executive Committee for consideration and action.
Notification
The NEA Education Support Professional Award will be presented at the 2012 NEA ESP National Conference.
Criteria
Nominations are judged according to the following five criteria: Professional Practice; Member Advocacy and Association Involvement; Community Engagement; Personal Achievement and Enhancement of ESP Image. Based on the packet information, the Selection Committee members will rate nominees on a scale of 1 to 5 for each criterion, where ‘1’ represents minimal evidence of the criterion, and ‘5’ represents very strong evidence of the criterion.
Assembly of Nomination Packet
Nomination packages must include all of the materials listed below, in the specified order.
Formatting instructions
- 12-point type
- Double-Spaced
- 1 inch margins all around
- Handwritten information is NOT allowed.
All forms are also available electronically at: www.nea.org/esphome Nominations that do not conform to deadlines and format specifications will be disqualified. If the nominee submits documents to the affiliate that are formatted incorrectly, the nominating affiliate is responsible for editing or reformatting those items prior to submitting to NEA ESP Quality (ESPQ).