Queens residents are invited to nominate their favorite teacher for the annual FLAG Awards for Teaching Excellence, which celebrates public school teachers in each borough and awards winners with a $25,000 grand prize.
The awards program, now in its sixth year, has been expanded to include 3-K teachers for the first time and features over $400,000 in cash prizes.
Students, their parents, principals, or fellow teachers and colleagues can nominate teachers for the award before the Nov. 24 deadline. Winners will be announced in June 2025. Anyone wishing to nominate their favorite teacher can do so by clicking here.
Full-time teachers in NYC public schools, grades 3-K through 12 with a minimum of five years of teaching experience are eligible for the FLAG Awards. There will be six grand prize winners for the 2024/25 awards cycle, including one teacher from each of the boroughs and one 3-K through fifth-grade educator chosen from any of the boroughs.
Grand prize winners will receive a $25,000 cash prize, while each finalist will receive $10,000. The winning teachers’ schools will each receive $10,000, while each finalist’s school will receive $5,000 towards arts-based programs designed by each winner.
The FLAG Award for Teaching Excellence award was founded by renowned art collectors Glenn and Amanda Fuhrman and recognizes and celebrates extraordinary public school teachers who inspire learning through creativity, passion, and commitment. In its first five years, the award has recognized 157 teachers across the city, giving away more than $1.5 million in cash prizes.
“This award recognizes the transformative impact that public school teachers make in the lives of their students,” Glenn Fuhrman said in a statement. “New York City’s educators are unsung heroes who so often go above and beyond to equip students with the knowledge, skills and character they need to live fulfilling lives and make our world a better place.”
Any teacher who receives a nomination for the 2024/25 awards cycle will receive an email asking them to fill out an application explaining how they fit the FLAG Award CREATE criteria.
A select number of candidates will then be asked to write many short essays in which they further elaborate on their teaching practices and how they align with the CREATE criteria, which promotes teachers who challenge and inspire students of all abilities; reach out beyond the classroom and make a positive impact on schools and communities; embrace their role as an educator; acknowledge the full spectrum of potential in each student; teach through example and act as a role model; and engage in opportunities for self-improvement.
Select candidates will then receive requests to interview and provide references. Semi-finalists will be notified in February before the final takes place in June.
Winners are selected by an independent jury, including Emilie Jones, a FLAG Award for Teaching Excellence Winner from the 2023/24 program; Kate Levin, head of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Arts program; Seth Pinsky, CEO, 92nd Street Y; Dr. Betty A. Rosa, Commissioner of Education and President of the State University of New York; and Heidi Holder, Frederick P. and Sandra P. Rose Chair of Education, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Aaron Lober, a STEM educator at 28Q157 Halsey Middle School 157 in Queens, was the Queens grand prize winner for last year’s program. Lober has a background in special education but learned various coding languages and eventually pursued a second master’s degree in CS education to become a middle school STEM teacher.
He spearheaded the development of the STEM department at his school and collaborated with Exploring Equity in Computer Science to write STEM curricula for the district.
