Awards

Each year NCTE celebrates more than 90 different awards across our various constituencies.

These awards shine a light on the exceptional work of our educators and students and offer myriad opportunities to recognize and elevate what makes the teaching and learning of English language arts so powerful.

Upcoming Awards

February 15

Edwyna Wheadon Postgraduate Training Scholarship

The Edwyna Wheadon Postgraduate Training Scholarship provides funding for professional development experiences for English/Language Arts teachers in public educational institutions. The purpose of the scholarship is to support postgraduate training to enhance teaching skills and/or career development in teaching.

March 1

David H. Russell Award
This award recognizes published research in language, literature, rhetoric, teaching procedures, or cognitive processes that may sharpen the teaching or the content of English at any level.

Promising Researcher Award
This award competition is open to individuals who have completed dissertations, theses, or initial, independent studies after the dissertations.

May 1

Berry Research Award to Study Careers of English Majors
The Berry Research Award to Study Careers of English Majors provides research support for an NCTE member(s) who proposes a research project that studies “the careers of English Majors and/or the role and function of English in career development.” (Given every other year.)

James R. Squire Award
Honors an individual who has given outstanding service to NCTE and the profession of education as a whole.

NCTE Advancement of People of Color Leadership Award
This award is given to an NCTE member of color who has made a significant contribution to NCTE and the development of our professional community.

NCTE Leadership Award for People with Disabilities
This award recognizes a person with a disability who has made a significant contribution to NCTE and to the development of our professional community. It encompasses mental, physical, sensory, and other disabilities.

NCTE LGBTQIA+ Advocacy & Leadership Award
This award recognizes a member of the LGBTQIA+ community who has made a significant contribution to the Council through service, scholarship, and actions that promote and support the advancement of the LGBTQIA+ community in the profession, in literacy-related activities, and in public engagement, thus helping to create a culture of change.

George Orwell Award
The NCTE George Orwell Award, established in 1975 and administered by the NCTE Public Language Award Committee, recognizes people who have made outstanding contributions to the critical analysis of public discourse.

May 15

Outstanding Elementary Educator Award
Recognizes a distinguished educator who has made major contributions to the field of elementary English language arts education.

Outstanding Middle Level Educator Award
This award recognizes exceptional English language arts teachers of grades 6-8 who have demonstrated excellence in teaching English language arts and inspired a spirit of inquiry and a love of learning in their students.

June 15

Media Literacy Award
This award showcases NCTE members who have developed innovative approaches for integrating media analysis and composition into their instruction.

NCTE National Intellectual Freedom Award
Established in 1997 by NCTE and SLATE–Support for the Learning and Teaching of English–this award is given to individuals, groups, or institutions that merit recognition for advancing the cause of intellectual freedom. A subcommittee of the NCTE Standing Committee Against Censorship selects the recipient(s).

Ongoing

Children’s Book Awards nominations are accepted until October 15 each year for the Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction, the Orbis Pictus Award for nonfiction, and the Notable Poetry Books and Verse Novels list.