The New England Environmental Education Alliance (NEEEA) recognizes outstanding environmental educators and programs from the New England region in three categories:

• Non-formal Environmental Educator
• Formal Environmental Educator
• Environmental Program

For over 20 years NEEEA has been recognizing excellence in environmental education. Visit the Award Recipients page for a list of past award winners.

Applications may be submitted either by the nominee or on his/her behalf by a colleague. The 2008 Award Application is now available online, and is due on June1 , 2008.

• Download the application in Microsoft Word
  (please fill out and email back as an attachment to: tamara@watershedfriends.com)

The selection criteria for each of the awards are as follows:

The Non-formal Environmental Educator Award is designed to recognize environmental education professionals who work outside the formal classroom setting. The award recipient:

• makes continuous and enduring contributions to environmental education (EE);
• demonstrates capacity for creating and implementing successful EE activities;
• shows creative approaches to EE programming;
• demonstrates personal involvement in state and/or regional EE community;
• makes a permanent contribution to EE by integrating with formal education systems, promoting the environmental education profession, or providing training or resources to other EE professionals.

The Formal Environmental Educator Award is designed to recognize a public or private school classroom teacher who:

• promotes individual and societal environmental responsibility;
• encourages students to make informed decisions about environmental issues;
• inspires student involvement and action through individual or group projects to effect positive environmental change at school or within the local community;
• links student learning to the appropriate state or national science benchmarks, curriculum frameworks, or standards.

The Maria Pirie Environmental Program Award is designed to recognize an outstanding environmental education program that is:

• innovative and creative; implemented broadly; easily replicated in other regions; sustainable; has a strong evaluation component; and results in demonstrated action by participants.

All materials are due by June 1, 2008. Applications will be reviewed and ranked by the Awards Committee of the NEEEA board before the end of June. Final approval of award winners by the NEEEA board will take place in July. All applicants will be notified immediately following the final selection.

The NEEEA Environmental Awards will be presented at the annual conference, A Journey Home: Fostering Ecologically Centered Communities, October 3-5, 2008, BU’s Sargent Center, Hancock, NH.

If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact:

Tamara Whitmore
NEEEA Awards Chair
PO Box 5003
Augusta, ME 04332-5003
PH: 207-621-4100
Email: tamara@watershedfriends.com