Winners Announced!

About the Prize

Republished from hftforschoolsprize.org

The Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence, launched in 2017, recognizes outstanding skilled trades teachers and programs in public high schools in the United States. Like the skilled trades, the prize application and process require hard work, time, focus, and a commitment to excellence.

We define an excellent program as one led by a teacher…

• Who clearly loves the subject matter and is both highly knowledgeable and skilled;

• Implementing a curriculum matched to a relevant career pathway and future work choices, one designed to flow seamlessly into next-step options, whether to employment or college;

• Encouraging exploration and experimentation among students in a safe environment; and

• Connecting students to new relationships and experiences outside the classroom.

In 2019, we will award over $1 million in prizes overall: There will be three first-place prize awards of $100,000, with $70,000 going to the public high school skilled trades program and $30,000 going to the eligible individual skilled trades teacher or teacher teams behind the winning application. Fifteen second-place winners will each be awarded $50,000, with $35,000 to the public high school program and $15,000 to the eligible teacher or teacher team. Applicants whose school, district or state policy prohibits receipt of the individual portion of prize earnings may still apply. Please see Special Note below for further information.

Every teacher who applies for the Prize for Teaching Excellence will gain access to powerful ideas and practices, shared through a series of expert-led learning modules available for free, to help them be even more effective in the classroom. Our goal, like skilled trades teachers, is to help students flourish. These learning modules, the core of the application process, will later be shared on our website (https://harborfreighttoolsforschools.org/), free and available for educators everywhere to draw upon.

And there are other winners—your community. By celebrating the best in skilled trades education, we intend to show there are many ways to use your head and hands, and many promising paths to success in life in addition to attending a four-year college.

The Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence is proudly powered by Skild.