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 2025-26 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, 2022, are eligible!
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.
Candidates are judged based on five criteria:
- Professional practice
This category looks at worksite responsibilities and personal achievements the nominee has made in their field. It examines how the nominee has demonstrated leadership, creativity and innovation at the worksite, along with how the candidate’s professional growth has positively impacted the school, students and community. - Advocacy and association
This category considers how the candidate serves in the day-to-day education process as an advocate for members, the profession, and public education, along with how the candidate’s involvement with Education Minnesota contributes to their professional success. - Community engagement
In this category, the selection committee reviews the candidate’s involvement in promoting public education in the community. - Personal achievement
This category examines how involvement in Education Minnesota activities enables the nominee to meet their own personal goals. - Enhancement of ESP image
This category looks at how the candidate’s activities enhance the image of education support professionals at their worksite, in the union and in the community.
Nominations will remain open until mid-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 their recommendation for ESP of the Year to the president of Education Minnesota. The winner is announced later in the fall and celebrated on ESP Day during American Education Week in November.
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.
