• Individual must work within a school district’s or community-based arts organization’s education program.

• Provides leadership through advocacy on issues which support the inclusion of arts education in the basic curriculum (e.g., equal time and access for all children, maintaining high-quality preK-20 arts programs)

• Provides public relations and/ or public awareness which lead to making the arts basic to education

• Demonstrates use of, or strong support for, “best practices” in educational processes

Business Leader - This award honors a business or an individual businessperson for leadership in, and support of, arts education. Outstanding partnership efforts; local and/or statewide advocacy for arts education; local Network Partner   support; and/or financial support of arts education will be recognized through this award.

• Partners with schools in leadership and support of arts education

• Provides local or statewide support of an arts education program

• Provides financial support of arts education

Community Volunteer - This award honors an individual who has provided significant support to arts education in Florida schools and communities. Work with schools, non-profit arts education programs, and/or Network Partner is recognized through this award.

• Supports arts education in Florida schools and communities

• Works with a local non-profit arts organization’s/agency’s education programs

• Provides leadership in an Network Partnership coalition

Elected Official – This award provides recognition for elected officials related to ensuring the role of arts education as part of a basic education for all children in Florida’s schools and communities. The individual honored with this award must be an elected official. 

• Individual must be an elected official.

• Provides leadership in school and/or community arts education issues to ensure inclusion of the arts in the basic curriculum (e.g., equal time and access for all children, maintaining high-quality preK-20 arts education programs)

School Administrator – This individual award provides recognition for leadership in advocacy and/or public awareness related to ensuring the role of arts education in basic education. The individual honored with this award must hold an administrative position with a Florida school.

• Individual must hold an administrative position in a school district.

• Provides leadership in school or district decision-making to ensure the inclusion of arts education in the basic curriculum (e.g., equal time and access for all children, maintaining high-quality preK-12 arts programs)

• Demonstrates strong support for use of “best practices” in educational processes

Superintendent's award

This award recognizes the impact that strong leadership from a superintendent can have in developing and maintaining strong arts education programs in a school district.

As chief administrative officer of a school district, the superintendent is responsible for the effective
implementation of School Board policy throughout the district.  The criteria for the superintendent's award encompass the superintendent's involvement in advancing arts education throughout the district.

Florida Alliance for Arts Education (FAAE) honors, at the state level, a Florida school board for its exemplary support of high-quality arts education in its district. The Alliance then nominates the honored School Board for the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network (KCAAEN) and National School Boards Association (NSBA) national award, providing it meets all requirements for national recognition as set forth by the KCAAEN and NSBA.

The President's Choice Award honors an individual whose contributions to arts education in Florida have made a lasting impact on the quality of life in Florida.

This award, created in memory of artist, educator, and visionary, Doris Leeper (1929-2000) in 2001, honors an artist as educator for outstanding contributions to K-12 arts education in Florida via work which advances arts education through advocacy and arts education development efforts with students, teachers, and interested others. The award is presented to a Florida artist who has had a significant and unique impact on arts education in K-12 educational settings in Florida. Candidates for this award include such practitioners as artists-in-residence, lecturers, and professional artist-educators who have worked in, or contributed significantly to, K-12 arts education for at least five (5) years. Artists eligible for this award are those working to advance arts education-related programs, performances, and exhibitions; advocacy; promotion; or outreach to schools, youth centers, juvenile justice programs, or arts education in a K-12 school setting.

The Dr. Mary Palmer Legacy Trailblazer Award is an award given to honor individuals who have elevated arts education as their core mission. This award is named after Dr. Mary Palmer, Ph.D. who is Professor Emeritus of the UCF College of Education and whose tireless work on behalf of arts education – and specifically arts integration – has gained her a national reputation as not only an advocate for arts education, but also as an individual who recognizes the transformative power of the arts.