Students and parents can nominate their favorite Queens teachers for a prestigious teaching award.
The FLAG Award for Teaching Excellence has opened nominations for its annual awards program. The program recognizes a select group of public school teachers who exemplify their commitment to teaching through passion, creativity, and service to their students. Now in its seventh year, since launching in 2019, the program has recognized over 190 teachers across the five boroughs and awarded over $2 million in prizes.
Six grand prize winners from any borough and one 3K through 5th grade teacher from any borough will each be awarded with a $25,000 cash prize and their schools will each receive $10,000 for arts-based initiatives designed by the winners.
Finalists will each receive $10,000, and their schools will receive $5,000 to support arts programming. The deadline for nominations is November 30, 2025. Students, parents, school faculty, and other school community members can nominate teachers at flagaward.org/nominate-your-teacher. Semi-finalists will be notified in February 2026, and winners will be announced in June 2026.
Nominations are open to full-time teachers in NYC public schools, grades 3K through 12, with a minimum of five years of teaching experience.
Teachers are evaluated through FLAG’s CREATE criteria, which assesses if teachers challenge and inspire students of all abilities, reach out to their communities beyond the classroom, and embrace their role as an educator with devotion, among other parts of the framework.
Last year, the FLAG Award drew a record 1,600 submissions from students, parents, principals, and colleagues across New York City. Queens teachers are no strangers to the FLAG Awards. In the 2024-2025 award cycle, QNS highlighted FLAG Award winner Alanna O’Donnell, a special education teacher at P177Q The Robin Sue Ward School for Exceptional Children, who won the borough’s grand prize.
O’Donnell’s compelling story of raising chickens alongside her class of young adult students, who are mostly nonverbal and use assistive devices, granted her one of the grand prizes. O’Donnell’s creation of an on-site urban farm and chicken coop at the school had transformed her class of students into youngsters who were eager to engage socially with others, learn various responsibilities related to raising chickens, and practice emotional learning skills.
Her students even created accessible agricultural training materials that earned them a historic invitation to the Grow-NY Youth Competition — the first NYC public school ever invited.
“This award celebrates the transformative difference that public school teachers make in their students’ lives,” said Glenn Fuhrman, co-founder of The FLAG Award for Teaching Excellence. “Last year’s record number of nominations showed how deeply New Yorkers value their teachers. We’re excited to build on that momentum and recognize even more extraordinary educators this year.”
“Every nomination is a chance to shine a light on a teacher who goes above and beyond,” said Risa Daniels, co-president of The FLAG Award for Teaching Excellence.
“We encourage every New Yorker to take a few minutes to nominate the educator who has made a difference in their life or their child’s life,” added co-president Laura Twersky.
