What Are The Blackboard Awards?

Founded by New York Family's parent company, Manhattan Media in 2002, The Blackboard Awards accomplish two worthy goals: They help New York City parents make informed choices about their children's education, and they honor and celebrate schools, principals and teachers of excellence from all education communities—public, private, parochial and charter—and from all grade levels, from nursery school through high school.

How does it work?

In November, we host an awards night for schools and principals, and in June we host an awards night for teachers. For most of the Blackboard Awards' history, the master of ceremonies was the legendary memoirist and NYC teacher Frank McCourt. Since his death we've welcomed a variety of distinguished educators and city dignitaries. The participation of NBC News' Kate Snow and Lynda Baquero as the hosts of the June and November Blackboard Awards was a special honor given NBC's own commitment to education through their annual Education Nation series. Bolstering the ceremonies is an in-depth series of education-related articles, profiles and resources appearing in New York Family magazine as well as in our community newspapers—Our Town and the West Side Spirit—and here on BlackboardAwards.com

How can a parent participate?

Parent participation is critical to the helpfulness and success of the Blackboard Awards, and since its inception nine years ago, thousands of city parents have participated. There are three key ways to get involved. You can take the school survey. (In other words, tell us all about your school!). And you can nominate a wonderful teacher or principal (or both). We welcome school surveys all year round. The nomination deadline for next year's Principal Awards is September 30, 2012. The nomination deadline for the 2012 Blackboard Awards for Teachers is March 31, 2012. Bring them on!


Take the school survey. It only takes a few minutes, but the information and impressions you provide us about your children's schools are invaluable in helping us identify schools worthy of recognition and commendation, whether they have a long tradition of excellence or are up-and-coming.	Nominate a teacher or principal. If your child has an excellent teacher, or their school has a great principal or head of school, please take a few minutes to tell us about him or her. For the teachers and principal awards especially, parents are the most reliable front-line source in helping us identify and honor our best educators.

Your recommendations count!

By telling us about a school you like, you're helping that school grow its reputation and reach other families who may be interested in it. By telling us about a teacher or principal you love, you're helping us honor some of society's most important—and most unsung—heroes.