Awards

NCTE Outstanding Elementary Educator in the English Language Arts Award

2024 Winner Dr. Angie Zapata

Dr. Angie Zapata, associate professor of language and literacies education at the University of Missouri, is a longtime teacher, teacher educator, and researcher. Through collaborative inquiry partnerships with practicing PK–12 teachers, her research highlights classroom literacy experiences featuring picturebooks with diverse racial, linguistic, and ethnic representation, and how/what translingual and transmodal literacies are produced in these moments. Dr. Zapata’s research is guided by her experiences growing up bilingual in Texas as a daughter of immigrant parents from Perú and deep commitments to center anti-oppressive and justice-oriented language and literacies experiences in the classroom that nurture more inclusive schooling experiences for racialized bilingual/multilingual/multidialectal children and youth. 

She has been named a recipient of the Early Career Research Award from the National Council of Teachers of English Children’s Literature Assembly and the Mid-Career Scholar Award from the National Council of Research in Language and Literacies. Her service to the field includes serving as coeditor of Literacy Research: Theory, Methods, and Practice as well as the Journal of Children’s Literature. Currently, Dr. Zapata partners with elementary and early childhood educators in racially, linguistically, and ethnically complex Missouri classrooms with generous funding from the Foundation for Child Development and the US Department of Education. Her research has been published in journals such as Research in the Teaching of English, Journal of Literacy Research, Language Arts, The Reading Teacher, Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, and English Teaching, Practice and Critique. Her book titled Deepening Student Engagement with Diverse Picturebooks: Powerful Classroom Practices for Elementary Teachers (2023) is part of the Principles in Practice imprint published by the National Council of Teachers of English.

Award Details

Nomination Deadline Extended: April 1, 2024

Purpose:
Established in 1995 to recognize a distinguished national or international educator who has made major contributions to the field of language arts in elementary education.

Award Criteria:
Nominees must have dramatically influenced literacy classroom practice, made ongoing contributions to the field of literacy, obtained national and/or international influence in literacy teaching and learning, and contributed a body of work that is compatible with the mission of NCTE.

Eligibility:

Recipients of this award should be elementary educators (e.g., preK–12 classroom teachers, higher education faculty) in elementary education with a history of influencing preK-6 classroom literacy practice. They embody antiracist, culturally sustaining, asset-based teaching and research approaches that are moving our work forward in creating inclusive, humanizing classrooms that center multiple identities, languages, and literacies.

Nomination Requirements: 

Required materials for submission are a nomination questionnaire and a resume/CV.

Award Criteria:

Dramatically influenced literacy classroom practice:

• Translating research into practical application in preK-6 classrooms nationally and/or internationally
• Producing a body of work including but not limited to journal articles, textbooks, professional texts, blogs, podcasts, and videos that are accessible to practicing preK-6 educators

Significant contributions to NCTE:

• Service and leadership roles in NCTE (e.g., regional, national, and local)
• Writing and Presenting at NCTE and other affiliated conferences (e.g., Languages and Literacies for All – LLA) in the area of language and literacy

Development of our professional community: 

• Developing district/state/national curriculum
• Research and publish alongside community members
• Supporting the personal and professional development of preK-6 pre-service teachers, classroom teachers, literacy coaches, teacher educators, caregivers, and communities
• Advocacy of law, policy, and instructional practices that influence and advance understanding of and systemic action toward equitable, antiracist, and anti-bias learning environments

Mission and Vision of NCTE:

• The recipient’s teaching, service and/or scholarship is compatible with the mission and vision of NCTE.
  • Deepen every student’s consciousness and widen possibilities for all students’ access, power, agency, affiliation, and impact, across a lifetime.

Selection Committee:

The Elementary Section Steering Committee will elicit nominations for this award from NCTE membership. Members of the ESSC will read and discuss application materials and select the award recipient using the award criteria. Only one nomination may be submitted per member.

Award Specifics:
The award is presented at the Elementary Section Get-Together during the NCTE Annual Convention on Thursday evening of the convention. The recipient will receive a plaque commemorating the award.