NCTE Leadership Award for People with Disabilities
2025: Brittany R. Collins, M.Ed
Brittany R. Collins, MEd, is an author and educator whose work explores the impacts of grief, trauma, and disability on adolescent and adult well-being. She has authored two books: Learning from Loss: A Trauma-Informed Approach to Supporting Grieving Students (2021), and Leveraging AI for Human-Centered Learning (2025, with Dr. Marlee S. Bunch), as well as 70+ articles in such outlets as The Washington Post; The Boston Globe; Inside Higher Ed; Education Week; Edutopia; English Journal; NCTE’s Special Issues, Volume 2: Trauma-Informed Teaching: Toward Responsive, Humanizing Classrooms, and more.
She has served as an MA state coordinator and reviewer for NCTE’s student literary journal award programs. Currently, she is the director of education at Write the World, Inc., a 501(c)3 dedicated to global writing education. Further, she has taught writing and led professional development on disability, grief, and trauma through the Harvard Graduate School of Education; Columbia University; University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; New York University; the National Association of Social Workers; and other organizations. She is working on three books centering disability and diverse teaching and learning needs. Learn more at www.brittanyrcollins.com.
We live in a pivotal time for the future of literacy development. In the context of evolving technologies, it is more crucial than ever to consider not only the products that students produce, nor their applicability to professional contexts, but the deeply human value of literacy processes—the powers of reflection, metacognition, identity development, empathy, connection, and meaning-making inherent in writing, reading, and speaking. As an educator focused on how grief, trauma, and disability impact student and teacher development, I’ve seen how literacy can foster well-being. It is this human, healing-centered engagement that I most wish to facilitate through my work.
Award Details
Overview:
This award demonstrates NCTE’s vision to strengthen an increasingly inclusive organization that provides more access to diverse voices. This award also helps promote cross-community connections and values and supports the agency of diverse leaders in the field.
Purpose:
To recognize a person with a disability who has made a significant contribution to NCTE and to the development of our professional community.
Frequency and Number of Awards:
This award will be bestowed only when the Award Selection Committee decides a nomination warrants presentation of the award. This award may not be given each year. This award may be given posthumously. Only one recipient will be selected each year.
Eligibility:
Any person with a disability can nominate themselves or be nominated for this award. NCTE recognizes that “disability” can have complex and sometimes competing meanings. It encompasses mental, physical, sensory, and other disabilities. Nominations will be sent to the Award Selection Committee, with the selected candidate forwarded to the Executive Committee. (Given the problematic history of required verification of disability, NCTE wishes to clarify that specific diagnoses are not required for this award.) The Executive Committee will approve the committee’s selection. All applicants, submitters, and nominees must be NCTE members at the time of submission. We remind nominators, nominees, and selection committee members that members of NCTE Conferences—CCCC, CEL, ELATE, LLA, and TYCA—are members, by definition, of NCTE.
Current NCTE Executive Committee members are not eligible for this award. Recipients of this award are not eligible to receive any other Executive Committee approved awards in the same year, nor in the following year.
Nomination Requirements:
Required materials for submission are a cover letter or letter of nomination and a resume/CV.
Award Criteria:
The bold statements are the award criteria. The remaining statements are intended to describe some of the possibilities suggested in the criteria and are not intended to be rated individually. Please remember that individuals have different levels of access to various opportunities (for example, rural vs. urban instructors). In other words, what is the level of the nominee’s contribution based on the level of opportunity, resources, and support?
Significant contribution to NCTE
- Service to NCTE (national, regional, local, and campus levels as well as conferences, affiliates, assemblies, caucuses, etc.)
- Committees
- Elected roles
- Service “work” (serve at registration table, read proposals, etc.)
- Writing for/presenting at NCTE-affiliated conferences/publication venues
- Publish
- Present
- Edit or review
Development of our professional community
Professional communities focused on literacy learning can be varied (e.g., global, national, regional, and local/campus).
- Teaching
- Innovate classroom curriculum
- Develop district/state/national curriculum
- Scholarship
- Attend conferences
- Produce and share research or other scholarly activities
- Service
- Participate in and/or lead scholarly organizations
- Participate in and/or lead social justice–oriented organizations, especially those oriented around disability-related communities
- Professional development
- Design and/or deliver professional learning engagements for community members
Advancing people with disabilities
- Activities/work/processes that promote and support the advancement of people with disabilities in the profession, in literacy-related activities, and in public engagement
- Creating a culture of change in their school, community, and/or professional organization
Strong candidates tend to show strength in all three areas.
Selection Committee:
The NCTE President appoints one Executive Committee member to serve as chair and four NCTE members-at-large from relevant NCTE groups.
Nature of the Award:
- A plaque is given to the recipient during the NCTE Awards Session.
- The recipient will also receive:
- A complimentary NCTE Annual Convention registration
- Domestic round-trip coach airfare to the NCTE Annual Convention
- One night lodging (Friday) with meals
Please contact NCTEAwards@ncte.org with any questions.
NCTE Leadership Award for People with Disabilities Previous Recipients
2024
No award given
2023
Jo Hsu, University of Texas at Austin
2022
Ada Hubrig, Sam Houston State University
2021
Christina V. Cedillo, University of Houston-Clear Lake
2020
Lisa Harmon-Martinez, Albuquerque High School
2019
Stephanie L. Kerschbaum, University of Delaware