Think you know the best teacher in Kentucky? Nominations are currently being accepted for the 2025 Kentucky Teacher of the Year awards.
Teachers may be nominated by students, parents, teaching peers, principals, superintendents, or anyone in the community who has an interest in honoring an outstanding educator.
“The Kentucky Teacher of the Year awards highlight extraordinary educators for their dedication to both their students and the teaching profession,” said Kentucky Interim Commissioner of Education Robin Fields Kinney. “We have more than 43,000 public school educators in the Commonwealth, and I encourage you to nominate deserving teachers for this award.”
Presented by the Kentucky Department of Education, the awards celebrate some of the Commonwealth’s most outstanding educators. Any full-time, certified public school teacher in the state with at least 10 years of experience is eligible.
Nominations may be submitted via a Google Form here and are due by December 15. At that time, all nominated teachers will be invited by KDE to complete and submit a formal application.
According to KDE, nominees should:
- Be an expert in their field who advances growth for students of all backgrounds and abilities;
- Build collaborative relationships with colleagues, students and families to create a school culture of equity and success;
- Deliberately connect the classroom to the community to impact student growth and learning;
- Be a lifelong learner and teacher leader and use innovative learning experiences in and out of the classroom; and
- Express themselves in an engaging and clear way that conveys the lived classroom experience to a variety of audiences.
A panel of education professionals from around the state will judge all completed applications. Advancing candidates will receive additional review and evaluations.
The highest-scoring educator in the elementary, middle, and high school divisions will be named Kentucky Teacher of the Year for their division. One person will then be selected as the state’s overall Teacher of the Year.
Recipients will be announced later in 2024 and honored with cash prizes and other awards. The overall 2025 Kentucky Teacher of the Year will represent the state in the 2025 National Teacher of the Year competition.
