Awards 

Each year ACEA presents awards to acknowledge excellence in Community Education and 21st Century Programs.  Individuals and groups receiving these awards have shown exemplary dedication and outstanding commitment to Community Education throughout the State of Alabama. Any ACEA member may submit nominations. 

 Awards presented this year include:

Student Worker of the Year

Extended Day Director of the Year

Principal of the Year

Superintendent of the Year

Distinguished Service Award

Peggy Spain McDonald

Innovation STEM Award

Outstanding Benefactor Award

Dr. Terry Peterson Award

Charles Stewart Mott Award

About the Awards

General Rules for 2024-2025 Awards

• All nomination forms and support materials must be received by the Awards Chairman no later than January 20, 2025.

• All nominations must be made by current ACEA members. If you attended the ACEA Conference last year you are a current ACEA member.

• Award applications will be judged on the merit of the application submitted, and may not necessarily be given each year.

Award Descriptions

ACEA Peggy Spain McDonald Innovative STEM Award

ACEA will recognize, through an engraved plaque, the Best Innovative STEM project that has been implemented and found to be successful by community education coordinators, directors, and program assistants.

This award is named in honor of Peggy Spain McDonald, who in the early 1970's was the driving force behind the implementation of community education in Alabama.

By introducing the program to community leaders in the Birmingham-Jefferson County area, and by working to establish the Center for Community Education at the newly formed University of Alabama in Birmingham, Ms. McDonald played the key role in establishing community education in Alabama.

Criteria for Innovative Award

1. Worthy of duplication/creativity of idea containing service learning while meeting community needs. Should be STEM based.

2. Statewide or local applicability of the project

3. Number of people, ages, agencies, etc. involved in the project

4. How "idea" enhanced community education, enhanced STEM

5. Ongoing application of "idea" and results

6. Person applying must be a member of ACEA

Guidelines for Innovative Award

1. Each entry must be accompanied by sufficient documentation to support the success of the idea when implemented. STEM should be a significant part of the idea.

2. Each entry must be accompanied by one letter of support.

3. Include the name and address of the coordinator / director.

ACEA Charles Stewart Mott Award

This is the highest award made by ACEA in memory of the person who started community education in Flint, Michigan in the 1930's. Charles Stewart Mott, who once stated "Let us be known by our deeds," left a legacy far greater than the General Motors Corporation he helped found. The Mott Foundation continues to this day to be a national and international leader in promoting democratic ideals, which include community education, grass-roots citizen participation, and global awareness of man and his close relationship to the good earth.

ACEA will recognize through an engraved plaque, outstanding contributions to the overall purpose of the organization and to the furtherance of community education. There will be one annual award presented to the person, organization, institution or agency inside or outside the field of community education who/which has made the largest contribution to a local program or the statewide program.

Criteria for Mott Award

1. Services rendered and impact at the local or state level

2. Contributions in support of activities or programs

3. Media involvement.

4. Commitment of nominee (ongoing, short-term)

Guidelines for Mott Award

1. Documents and material should be included with the application to support each criterion.

2. The application must reflect activities from January 2019 through December, 2020.

3. A minimum of three letters of recommendation is required.

4. All criteria must be supported in essay or bullet format.

5. Limit application to one page.

Dr. Terry Peterson Award

ACEA will recognize a Program Administrator located at Central Office or holds an Executive Office position, who oversees multiple programs with dedicated commitment to community education. Terry K. Peterson, is the executive editor of Expanding Minds and Opportunities: Leveraging the Power of Afterschool and Summer Learning for Student Success, a Senior Fellow at the College of Charleston, and a consultant to the CS Mott Foundation. Dr. Peterson has taught at all levels of education and been a parent and community organizer. He has served as chief education deputy for an education reform governor and the U.S. Secretary of Education, both for eight years, and in those leadership capacities helped launch and implement a number of successful nationwide and statewide initiatives, such as the 21st Century Community Learning Centers, E-Rate, Advanced Placement course expansion, early childhood program growth, family engagement strategies, teacher quality and recruitment enhancements, and school-community-business partnership growth. Peterson serves on numerous local, state, and national education reform councils and chairs the Afterschool Alliance national board. Always searching for "what works," he has visited more than one thousand educational institutions in almost every state, and in fifteen countries from Singapore to Denmark, Dubai to Mongolia, and Northern Ireland to China and Brazil.

Criteria for Dr. Terry Peterson Award

1. Administrator or Executive Director of Programs

2. Contributions in support of programs

3. Commitment of nominee (ongoing, short-term)

Guidelines for Dr. Terry Peterson

1. Documents and material may be included with the application to support each criterion.

2. The application must reflect a longevity of service.

3. A minimum of one letter of recommendation is required.

4. All criteria must be supported in essay or bullet format.

5. Limit application to one page.

Distinguished Service Award (non-competitive)

ACEA will recognize those retiring from May 1, 2020 – April 30, 2021 with fifteen or more years of service to community education. Recognition will be in the form of a plaque.

If you are eligible for this recognition, please submit your name as you want it to appear on the plaque, your date of employment, and date of retirement. Nominee must be an ACEA member. If you know of a colleague who is eligible, you may submit his/her name

Other Award Nominations Being Accepted

• Volunteer of the Year

• Extended Day Director of the Year

• Principal of the Year

• Superintendent of the Year

• Student-Worker of the Year

• Teacher of the Year

• Teaching Assistant of the Year

• Outstanding Benefactor of the Year