Nominate a deserving colleague for ESP of the Year
Nominations open June 1
Do you know an ESP who deserves to be recognized for their exemplary work? Nominate them for Education Minnesota’s 2026-27 Education Support Professional of the Year Award!
Since 2007, the ESP of the Year program has recognized outstanding professional and union work by education support professionals across Minnesota.
Nominees can be in any ESP job category, including paraprofessional, secretarial or clerical, custodial, food service, maintenance, trades, transportation, groundskeeping, security, technology services, health services and more.
Any current Education Minnesota ESP members whose membership started on or before Aug. 31, 2023, are eligible! Members in ESP chapters who have joined Education Minnesota within the past three years are eligible, so long as the nominee has at least three years of union membership by the Aug. 31 deadline.
The ESP of the Year represents Minnesota ESPs throughout the profession and connects with their communities as an ambassador of the program.
The Education Minnesota ESP of the Year will receive a $1,200 honorarium and their choice of either a Chromebook, iPad or other tablet. The winner will also serve as Minnesota’s nominee for NEA’s ESP of the Year program and will receive an expense-paid trip to the NEA Education Support Professional National Conference in March.
Candidates are judged based on five criteria:
- Professional practice
- Advocacy and association
- Community engagement
- Personal achievement
- Enhancement of ESP image
Nominations will remain open until September. Once the nomination window closes, Education Minnesota will review all nominees and ensure that they meet the eligibility requirements. We will then contact eligible nominees and ask if they wish to continue as a candidate for ESP of the Year.
Once Education Minnesota has identified which nominees wish to continue as candidates, we review the nomination materials and narrow the candidates down to five finalists. The finalists are then notified of their status and scheduled for interviews with the Selection Committee, which is comprised of the Education Minnesota Vice President, Executive Director, the most recent ESP of the Year awardee, a member of the Education Minnesota Governing Board and a representative of another education stakeholder organization.
After the interview process, the Selection Committee makes its recommendation for ESP of the Year to the president of Education Minnesota.
This year, ESP of the Year will be held on Friday, Oct. 23 and Saturday, Oct. 24. We are adding new elements to the program this year, including training workshops and a mixer on Friday evening. Finalist interviews will be conducted on Saturday morning. Both finalists and semifinalists will be honored and the winner will be announced at a banquet on Saturday afternoon.
To learn more about the program and to submit your ESP of the Year nominations, go to educationminnesota.org/news/awards-and-honors/esp-of-the-year.
