2026 GRAMMY Music Educator Award™ Semifinalists Who Are NAfME Members

17 of the 2026 GRAMMY Music Educator Award™ Semifinalists Are NAfME Members

Announcing the 25 Selected Semifinalists

The Recording Academy™ and GRAMMY Museum® have announced the 25 semifinalists for the 2026 GRAMMY Music Educator Award™. More than 2,000 initial nominations were submitted from 118 cities; semifinalists were selected from 23 cities across 14 states. NAfME is excited to announce that 17* of the 25 GRAMMY semifinalists are active members of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME). NAfME congratulates each of these inspiring, dedicated, and noteworthy music educators.

Presented annually by the Recording Academy and GRAMMY Museum, the Music Educator Award honors educators who have made a significant and lasting contribution to music education and demonstrate a deep commitment to maintaining music education in schools.

The Music Educator Award is open to current U.S. music teachers. Anyone can nominate a teacher, including students, parents, friends, colleagues, community members, school deans, and administrators. Teachers can also nominate themselves. All nominated teachers are notified and invited to submit an application.

Nominations for the 2027 Music Educator Award are now open.

Here are this year’s semifinalists. NAfME members are highlighted in bold.*

Katherine Findlay	Meadow Park Elementary School	Irvine	California
Johanna Gamboa-Kroesen	University of California Los Angeles	Los Angeles	California
Jean-Paul Balmat	Mission Bay High School	San Diego	California
Rachel Waddell	Colorado State University	Fort Collins	Colorado
Cindy Ellis	Miami Arts Studio 6-12 at Zelda Glazer	Miami	Florida
Jennifer Jimenez	South Miami Sr. High School	Miami	Florida
Bernie Hendricks, Jr.	Ocoee High School	Ocoee	Florida
Katie Grace Miller	Lake George Elementary	Orlando	Florida
Kevin Schoenbach	Oswego High School	Oswego	Illinois
Alyson Humphrey Smith	A.C. Steere Elementary School	Shreveport	Louisiana
Sarah Labrie	Lexington High School	Lexington	Massachusetts
Lisa Linde	Newton South High School	Newton	Massachusetts
Kevin McDonald	Wellesley High School	Wellesley	Massachusetts
Matthew Shephard	Meridian Early College High School	Sanford	Michigan
Kimberly Ritzer	Green Valley High School	Henderson	Nevada
Stephen Blanco	Las Vegas High School	Las Vegas	Nevada
Alice Tsui	New Bridges Elementary	Brooklyn	New York
Kokoe Tanaka-Suwan	Purchase and Parsons Memorial Elementary Schools	Harrison	New York
Erin Althen	Westhill High School	Syracuse	New York
Angela McKenna	Classen School of Advanced Studies at Northeast High School	Oklahoma City	Oklahoma
Jasmine Fripp	Tennessee State University	Nashville	Tennessee
DaJuana Hammonds	Warner Arts Magnet Elementary School	Nashville	Tennessee
Lisa Sunset Holt	Cedar Park High School	Cedar Park	Texas
Bill Podolski	H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program	Arlington	Virginia
Juliana Cantarelli Vita	The Bush School	Seattle	Washington

* This number reflects those whose memberships were current at the time of this announcement and is subject to change.

The 2026 GRAMMY Music Educator Award honoree, selected out of the ten finalists, will receive a $10,000 honorarium and matching grant for their school’s music program, and be recognized during GRAMMY Week 2026. The nine additional finalists will each receive a $1,000 honorarium with matching school grants. Fifteen semifinalists will also receive a $500 honorarium with matching school grants. Read a list of the quarterfinalists featuring NAfME members.

The Music Educator Award program, including honorariums, is made possible by the generosity and support of The Chuck Lorre Family Foundation. In addition, the American Choral Directors Association, National Association for Music Education, NAMM Foundation, and National Education Association support this program through outreach to their constituencies.

Ten of the previous twelve GRAMMY Music Educator honorees are NAfME members: Kent Knappenberger, Jared Cassedy, Phillip Riggs, Keith Hancock, Melissa Salguero, Jeffery Redding, Mickey Smith Jr., Pamela Dawson, Annie Ray, and Adrian Maclin—the 2025 GRAMMY Music Educator Award recipient. The 2021 GRAMMY Music Educator Award recipient is Jeffrey Murdock, associate professor of music at the University of Arkansas, and the 2022 GRAMMY Music Educator Award recipient is Stephen Cox, band director at Eastland High School in Eastland, Texas.

More information about the GRAMMY Music Educator Award is available here. Best wishes to the semifinalists for the 2026 award!

Nominations for the 2027 Music Educator Award are open for both teachers, students, and the public to nominate a music educator who inspires them. Nominations are due March 15, 2026, and applications are due March 31, 2026.