Nominations for the 2017 GRAMMY Music Educator Awards are now open at www.grammymusicteacher.com. The deadline to nominate is March 15, 2016. The deadline to apply is March 31, 2016.
On December 7, the GRAMMY Foundation announced the 10 finalists for 2016 GRAMMY Music Educator. Of the 10, eight are members of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME). The 10 teachers come from eight different states and were narrowed down from more than 4,500 nominations. The winner will be announced in February. The GRAMMY telecast will air on February 15, 2016, on CBS.
Each year, one recipient is selected from the 10 finalists, “in recognition of their remarkable impact on students’ lives.”
The 2016 finalists, with NAfME members indicated with an asterisk and in bold, are:
Bonnie Anderson, Coronado Village Elementary School, Universal City, Texas
*Krista Fanning, Caddo Middle Magnet, Shreveport, Louisiana (Fanning was a 2015 finalist)
*Anne Fennell, Mission Vista High School, Oceanside, California
*Frank Gawle, Wilton High School, Wilton, Connecticut
Keith Hancock, Tesoro High School, Rancho Santa Margarita, California
*Penelope Quesada, Lincoln Elementary School, Louisville, Kentucky
*Phillip Riggs, North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, Durham, North Carolina
*Bill Swick, Las Vegas Academy of the Arts, Las Vegas, Nevada (Swick chairs NAfME’s Council for Jazz Education)
*Brayer Teague, Downers Grove North High School, Downers Grove, Illinois
*Lois Wiggins, Edythe J. Hayes Middle School, Lexington, Kentucky
A joint partnership and presentation of The Recording Academy® and the GRAMMY Foundation®, the Music Educator Award was established to recognize current educators (kindergarten through college, public and private schools) who have made a significant and lasting contribution to the field of music education and who demonstrate a commitment to the broader cause of maintaining quality music education in schools.
The winner will be flown to Los Angeles to participate in GRAMMY Week activities and attend the GRAMMY Awards ceremony. In addition, the winner will receive a $10,000 honorarium. The nine other finalists will each receive a $1,000 honorarium, and the schools of each of the 10 finalists will receive matching grants.
The honorariums and grants provided to the finalists and schools are made possible by the generosity and support of the GRAMMY Foundation’s Education Champions: Converse, Disney Performing Arts, Ford Motor Company Fund, and Journeys. In addition, the National Association for Music Education, the NAMM Foundation and the National Education Association support this program through outreach to their constituencies.
Kent Knappenberger of Westfield Academy and Central School in Westfield, N.Y., was the recipient of the inaugural Music Educator Award and was recognized during the 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards telecast in a segment featuring Portnow, Seacrest and nine-time GRAMMY winner John Legend.
Jared Cassedy of Windham High School in Windham, N.H., was the recipient of the 2015 Music Educator Award. Cassedy was recognized during the 57th Annual GRAMMY Awards telecast in a special segment.
Roz Fehr, NAfME Communications Content Developer, December 7 , 2015. © National Association for Music Education (NAfME.org).
