Teaching Tolerance opens award application

The SPLC’s Teaching Tolerance project is accepting applications for its 2016 Teaching Tolerance Award for Excellence in Teaching – a biennial award that recognizes five teachers from across the country who excel at promoting respect, acceptance and appreciation for the nation’s growing diversity.

Winners will each receive a $2,500 cash award and an expense-paid trip to historic Montgomery, Alabama, to be honored at the Awardee Summit. K-12 teachers within the United States can apply here. The deadline for applications is Dec. 15.

“This award has allowed Teaching Tolerance – and educators across the nation – to meet some inspiring and amazing teachers,” said Teaching Tolerance Director Maureen Costello. “They show how anti-bias work is done, with excellence and passion. Each one is the kind of teacher parents want for their children.”

Winners are expected to be effective spokespeople for anti-bias education. Applicants must provide concrete examples of successfully using research-based practices to reduce prejudice, improve intergroup relations and create an equitable school environment. They must have approval to be filmed with their students in school.

Winners also must contribute to projects that demonstrate best practices in anti-bias education over the two-year tenure of the award. They must be available to travel to Montgomery for the Awardee Summit in July, a collaborative workshop and award ceremony.

As one of the nation’s leading providers of anti-bias education resources, Teaching Tolerance reaches hundreds of thousands of educators and millions of students annually through its Teaching Tolerance magazine, multimedia teaching kits, online curricula, professional development resources and classroom-friendly social justice documentaries. These materials are provided to educators at no cost.