Outstanding Early Career Teacher Award Overview
Nebraska Writing Project hosts an annual award to recognize the promise of an early career Nebraska teacher who:
- exemplifies the dispositions and core values of NeWP in their teaching practice,
- initiates active involvement and leadership (especially through the NeWP community), and
- invests in continuous opportunities for professional growth and leadership.
Through a teacher-directed nomination process, NeWP selects each year a Nebraska K-12 teacher early in their career who is demonstrating a remarkable trajectory of teaching and leadership.
Nominate a Teacher
All Nebraska teachers, K-12, are eligible for this award. To nominate a teacher, send a letter of nomination to the NeWP Director, Dr. Rachael Shah (Rshah@unl.edu), by May 1st, 2025.
Nominations should include:
A. Nominee's name; home, school, and e-mail address; phone number
B. Nominator's name; home, school, and e-mail address; phone number
C. A letter of nomination explaining how this teacher exemplifies the spirit of the award.
All nominations will be read and rated by the Nebraska Writing Project Co-Directors. Evaluations will be based on how the nominee exemplifies the dispositions and core values of NeWP in their teaching practice, initiates active involvement and leadership (especially through the NeWP community), andinvests in continuous opportunities for professional growth and leadership.
The award recipient will be announced at the Nebraska Writing Project Summer Celebration in mid-June.
2026 Recipient: Grace Ellis
The Nebraska Writing Project is pleased to present the 2026 Outstanding Early Career Teacher Award to Grace Ellis. Grace is adept at creating spaces for powerful and genuine collaboration, not only among her students, but also among teachers. In the words of one of her nominators, Grace Story, “She’s incredibly open in the ways she works with other teachers, freely sharing new and exciting ideas. She’s also very motivating and encouraging towards fellow teachers in their moments of strife.” She models—and brings out in others—the NeWP spirit of mutual curiosity and creation.
Grace has also been a compelling voice for the importance of meaningful youth writing since her 2023 Summer Institute, when she developed an incredible workshop on how young people can develop a rooted and expansive sense of rural identity through slam poetry. She has continued to widen the scope and impact of this line of inquiry through leadership with Nebraska Writing Project youth writing camps. In the words of one of her nominators, Tina Le,
Grace has been a key figure in the Nebraska Writing Project Young Writers Camp. Starting as a YWC student participant herself as a high schooler, she has since returned as an instructor and spearheaded an initiative to bring YWC to central and western Nebraska communities. I am grateful for her tireless efforts in broadening access for students in rural communities to experience the magic of YWC.
Through a spark from Grace, the Nebraska Writing Project is working to launch “Young Writers Camp Out West,” reaching areas of the state that have often been overlooked.
Grace joined the Advisory Board, and for this coming year, we are excited to announce that she stepping up a Co-Director of the Nebraska Writing Project, expanding her state-wide impact on the field of education.
In the Nebraska Writing Project, we celebrate teachers like Grace, who even in the beginning stages of their career, are already having a powerful impact not only on their own students, but on communities beyond their own. Grace exemplifies the possibilities of teacher voice, insight, creativity, and leadership, and we are thrilled to present her with the 2026 Outstanding Early Career Teacher Award. Congratulations, Grace!
Past Award Winners
Grace Story (2025)