Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – The District 186 Horace Mann Educator of the Year awards are back. This means it is now time for you to get your nominations submitted for your favorite teacher or administrative staff.

Nominations for the Horace Mann award must be turned in by Friday, February 27.

The nomination submission form is all electronic and quite easy to navigate. You can submit the form online by going to the District 186 Website and filling out the appropriate form.

Rachel Dyas, from District 186, spoke to the WTAX Morning Newswatch, and explained the different categories of nominations.

“We are adding on some more opportunities. For Educator of the Year, we usually in the past had five nominees we are now going to take seven. For Rising Star, we normally take three, but we are going to up that to five.  So, the Rising Star Award is for those educators who have been with us for up to four years and lower. Educator of the Year is for those educators that have been with us for five years plus. Obviously, we will also honor our administrators, and we honor three of those each year as finalists. Then there will be one Educator of the Year, and one Administrator of the Year that are the overall winners.” Stated Dyas

Of course, be sure to include your story on why you chose to nominate these teachers or administrations. There have been many great stories that the Horace Mann award has seen whether it’s you as a parent who’s acknowledging a great teacher or administrator for the work they do for the students. Perhaps when you were growing up, you had the same teacher as your child does now. Teachers almost always love their job, which creates extreme longevity. That would mean that it is quite possible that your child is learning from the same teacher who helped you through school.