The Hester Spackman Outstanding Humanities Educator Award
Help us celebrate outstanding teachers in your community! Nominations are accepted in January and February.
We value the important work of K-12 humanities educators across our state! We recognize their outstanding work with an annual award for three teachers: one in grades K-5th, 6-8th, and in 9-12th grades.
Administrators, colleagues, parents, and former students: you are all invited to nominate an outstanding teacher in your community! Nominations are accepted through the end of February.
All nominated teachers will be contacted directly by the IHC with an invitation to be considered for this award. Teachers who do not meet the award criteria will not be considered.
Award Criteria:
- Educator must be teaching full time in a classroom in the current school year in Idaho.
- Educator must be licensed to teach in the state of Idaho.
- Educator must be teaching a humanities discipline.
- Educator must exemplify the guiding principles of the Idaho Humanities Council.
- Educators cannot have won this award in the past.
Award Process:
- January-February: Open call to every community in Idaho to nominate K-12 humanities teachers who meet the award criteria above. Nominations due February 28th.
- March 1-16, 2025: Educators are notified of their nomination and invited to apply through our online system.
- End of March: Applications will be evaluated by a committee that includes IHC board members, IHC teacher advisory council members, and former winners of this award. They will look at 4 items supplied by the applicants:
- A 500-word max essay explaining how the applicant has applied one of the IHC guiding principles in their classroom OR why they believe or value that principle
- A resume or CV
- One letter of recommendation from an administrator, colleague, mentor, or former student
- An artifact that represents the work the applicant is doing in their classroom. This can include a letter from students, a video, examples of work, or a product from a classroom project. Feel free to be creative here. There are no strict rules about what can be shared, we just want to be able to see a demonstration of what makes this classroom special!
You can view examples of artifacts submitted by previous applicants here.
- April: The winners will be notified. IHC staff will work with the winners and their schools to determine the best way to celebrate this achievement whether it is a school assembly, classroom presentation, or a handshake in the hallway.
- May: IHC staff will travel to the winners schools to present a trophy and a $1500 check.
What are the humanities?
The Idaho Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities define “the humanities” to include history, literature, philosophy, jurisprudence, cultural anthropology, comparative religion, art history and criticism, music history and other interpretive disciplines that through study yield wisdom.
Why are the humanities important?
It is through the study of these disciplines that we gain knowledge and understanding—in a word, wisdom. In the founding legislation for the NEH in 1965, Congress stressed that “Democracy demands wisdom and vision in its citizens.” The humanities are a vehicle to understanding the human experience—the diverse history, traditions, and cultures of the world. It is only through this quest for understanding that we cultivate the wisdom and vision that democracy demands.
Who Is the Idaho Humanities Council?
The IHC is dedicated to serving Idaho citizens by promoting greater public awareness, appreciation, and understanding of the humanities. The Council accomplishes its mission by awarding grants to organizations statewide, and by working with organizations as partners to develop local humanities projects and programs, and by sponsoring its own Council-conducted programs, such as summer institutes in the humanities for K-12 teachers, library reading/discussion programs in small communities, traveling exhibitions from the Smithsonian Institution, a Humanities Speakers Bureau, Distinguished Humanities Lectures, and other projects and programs limited only by the imagination.
Our Guiding Principles:
- We believe that the humanities should be open, accessible, and welcoming to all Idahoans.
- We believe that every story contributes to a deeper understanding of being human.
- We believe that respectful communication provides opportunities to learn new perspectives.
- We believe that curiosity about the variety of expressions of the human spirit teaches us the value of our differences.
For questions or more information on this year's Outstanding Educator Award, please contact Associate Director Johanna Bringhurst at johanna@idahohumanities.org.