2026 MTA ESP of the Year Award

Education Support Professionals are MTA members who work in educational settings to enhance students' educational experience, connect their schools and communities, and provide invaluable administrative and classroom support. They work in preK-12 through higher education in the following job categories: clerical services, custodial and maintenance services, food services, health and student services, paraeducators, security services, skilled trades, technical services and transportation services.

As the president or executive committee/board of an MTA local, please complete this nomination form and upload a letter(s) on your behalf, as well as letters of recommendation as outlined below. (Files can be uploaded at the end of this form.)

Nomination Best Practices

Deadline: December 15 at 11:59 p.m.

Up to three letters of recommendation to the MTA on behalf of the nominee are welcome from teachers, staff, students, administrators and community members. Each year, the MTA ESP Committee meets in person to review all applications submitted by locals for ESP of the Year. Though all nominees are worthy candidates, some applications tend to stand out more than others. There are some best practices as defined by the people who will review each nominatoin. Here's how to make your nominee stand out:

• Nominee's leadership, creativity and innovation are highlighted throughout the application.
• The application displays strong and specific evidence of community engagement union activism and impact on students, families and colleagues.
• The application looks complete, with a minimum of 250 words per prompt.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

• This nomination form must be filed for any nominee, even if the person was previously nominated.
• Either the local association president or the chair of the local Executive Committee/Board of the local association must complete and sign this form.
• All nominations submitted to the MTA will be evaluated on the basis of the criteria listed in this nomination form.
• MTA policy related to the nomination process can be found in Section 15.50 MTA ESP Award Program.

The ESP Award will be presented at the MTA ESP Conference, April 10-11, 2026, at the Margaritaville Resort Cape Cod in Hyannis. Additionally, the MTA awardee may be eligible for the NEA ESP of the Year Award.

Answer these prompts by describing specific actions the nominee has taken and the impacts of those actions. Connect the nominee's actions with the larger causes of racial and social justice and addressing inequalities. A strong nomination packet will describe in detail the nominee's impact on their community and school and their ability to collaborate and partner with other groups. When describing impacts on communities, the community can be the nominee's town or city, the town or city their school is in, the university campus, etc...

Please refer to this section when answering the prompts.

Please complete the fields below and upload a letter from the nominating local association president. (Files can be uploaded at the bottom of this form.)

IMPORTANT

• This nomination form must be filed for any nominee, even if the person was previously nominated.
• Either the local association president or the chair of the local Executive Committee/Board of the local association must complete and sign this form.
• All nominations submitted to the MTA will be evaluated on the basis of the criteria listed in this nomination form.

I hereby nominate the following member to receive the MTA ESP Award to be presented at the 2026 MTA Annual ESP Conference.