One Nomination Could Put a Manhattan Teacher In Line for $25,000

Your favorite Manhattan teacher could be in line for a surprise at school and a $25,000 grand prize. First, someone has to nominate your favorite teacher.

Nominations are now open for the FLAG Award for Teaching Excellence, an annual award recognizing New York City public school teachers. One grand-prize winner will be selected from Manhattan and receive $25,000, while the winner’s school will receive another $10,000 for an arts initiative. Nominations are open through Nov. 29.

Teachers know what they do in front of a classroom. They do not always know what follows a student home.

A lesson may end when the bell rings, but the impact can linger. Sometimes, the teacher does not realize anyone noticed. There is another class to teach, work to grade, after-school programs and a life waiting outside the building. The teacher may move on with their day while someone who sat in their classroom carries something from it with them.

Risa Daniels, co-president of the FLAG Award, has heard that realization from teachers going through the process.

“Sometimes we’ll get feedback from teachers saying, like, ‘I never realized someone noticed that I did this thing,’” Daniels said.

“The idea behind the award is to find those amazing teachers,” Daniels said.

She said recognition does not have to begin with the organization. A nomination can come from a student, former student, parent, administrator or colleague who knows the teacher through an educational relationship.

The initial application is intentionally simple. Nominations can be submitted through the FLAG Award website. Nominators are prompted to provide basic information about the teacher and answer one central question: Why are you nominating this teacher?

Some people write essays, while others write a line or two.

Daniels said the organization encourages children to nominate their teachers and does not expect a submission written by a six-year-old to compete with one polished by a school principal. The heavier lifting comes later, when eligible teachers are asked to write about their own work.

The award was created by Glenn and Amanda Fuhrman with the idea that while problems within education receive plenty of attention, the work of individual teachers deserves some of its own.

The person doing the nominating can see something a resume cannot.

Daniels recalled a parent writing about a nonverbal child who had struggled to connect with others before participating in a teacher-created program where autistic students worked with chickens. The parent described seeing their child engage in a way they had not seen before.

“We’re hoping for a lot of show and not tell,” Daniels said. “Examples of how this teacher has done something that has specifically affected you, your student, has changed something in your life.”

Manhattan’s 2025-2026 winner, Ian Weissman, brought his own kind of creativity into his social studies classroom at Repertory Company High School for Theatre Arts in Times Square.

As teachers began grappling with how artificial intelligence should fit into education, Daniels said Weissman found ways to use it as a teaching tool. In one lesson, students role-played as journalists at a press conference involving historical figures from the Berlin Conference of 1884, using AI to interview them and interact with the history they were studying.

The recognition comes with something more tangible.

Daniels said the Fuhrmans found that while teachers could receive honors and accolades, few came with a substantial monetary prize. Daniels also pointed to the money teachers spend out of pocket on classroom supplies.

The $25,000 grand prize belongs to the teacher.

That distinction was intentional.

Daniels said organizers did not want a winner to feel responsible for turning around and spending their personal prize on their classroom. Instead, the winner’s school separately receives $10,000 for an arts initiative.

“We really wanted to celebrate and treat that teacher to, you know, take that money and renovate their home or go on vacation or do whatever they wanted with it,” Daniels said.

The Manhattan winner will be one of six grand-prize recipients. One teacher is selected from each borough, along with an additional educator teaching 3-K through fifth grade who can come from anywhere in the city.

Daniels said the program typically selects roughly 10 finalists. Each finalist receives $10,000, while their school receives $5,000 for arts programming.

Full-time New York City public school teachers from 3-K through 12th grade with at least five years of teaching experience are eligible.

After nominations close Nov. 29, eligible teachers will be invited to complete a more detailed application. Semifinalists are expected to be notified in February, followed by interviews and review by an independent jury. Winners are announced near the end of the school year, usually in June.

The grand-prize announcement itself is saved for a surprise at school. Daniels said some reveals have been as simple as organizers walking into a teacher’s classroom, while others have unfolded in front of an entire school assembly.

“We’ve had many, many grand prize winners who have only received one nomination,” Daniels said. “From that one nomination, that kicked off the whole process.”