Description
The Grawemeyer Award in Education is intended to stimulate the dissemination, public scrutiny and implementation of ideas that have potential to bring about significant improvement in educational practice and advances in educational attainment. The award was created not only to reward the individuals responsible, but also to draw attention to their ideas, proposals or achievements. The award is designed to recognize a specific recent idea/study rather than a lifetime of accomplishment.
Prize Amount
The Grawemeyer Award in Education is accompanied by a prize of $100,000, which is presented in full during the awards ceremony.
Eligibility
The competition does not limit the format in which the idea or achievement appears. Consideration will be given to printed books, articles appearing in scholarly journals, technological advances, software, research reports, conference presentations, or other widely and publicly disseminated forms. Please note that edited volumes as well as textbooks are not eligible for this award. Consistent with the intent of H. Charles Grawemeyer, the award is not given posthumously.
History
The Grawemeyer Award in Education was the third of the four awards first established in 1988.Ā The first award winner was announced a year later. The purpose of the award was “to stimulate ideas that have potential to bring about significant improvement in educational practice and attainment.” The first Grawemeyer Education Award was presented in 1989 to Bertrand Schwartz of Paris, France, for his idea, “The Social and Vocational Preparation of Disadvantaged Young People and Experiments in New Qualifications.”
Initial screening of the Grawemeyer Award in Education nominees is conducted by a committee of College of Education and Human Development faculty who select three finalists for the Grawemeyer Award in Education. External reviewers then evaluate the finalists.
For the final selection committee, Charles Grawemeyer insisted that the winner be chosen by a committee comprised of the President of the University or designee, the Dean of the College of Education and Human Development, and three members of the community with some involvement in the educational enterprise. Until a year before his death in 1993, Charlie Grawemeyer sat on the final selection committee. The committee recommends the award winner to the President who forwards the recommendation to the Board of Trustees of the University. The Board of Trustees approves the final recommendation.
The Nomination Process
The University invites nominations from throughout the world by professional educators, educational institutions and organizations, and editors and publishers of journals, books and software. Self-nominations will not be considered.
To nominate a work, the nominator must submit the following:
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- Ā A one-page letter of nomination identifying the specific work, idea, or achievement being nominated and delineating the reasons why the entry merits the award. Please provide a complete bibliographic reference to the nominated work.
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- A completed 2025 nomination form. The nomination deadline is April 26, 2024.
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Once a nomination has been received, the nominee(s) will be notified about the nomination and will be sent a nominee form that explains the award conditions. Each nominee must then submit the following supporting materials:
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- A signed copy of the 2025 nominee form that indicates agreement with the award conditions,
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- Two physical copies or one electronic copy of the published/presented work (additional copies may be required). If the work is in a language other than English, provide a copy of the English translation of the work.
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All submitted materials becomes the property of the University of Louisville.
Restrictions
Ideas or achievements must have been presented or published in the recent past. Self-nomination is not allowed. Current University of Louisville faculty, staff, and students are not eligible. Previous winners of the Grawemeyer Award are not eligible. Edited volumes and textbooks are not eligible. Non-English entries must be translated.
Deadline
To be considered for the 2025 award, the signed nominee form and one physical or electronic copy of the published/presented work must reach the University of Louisville by May 10, 2024.
The Review Process
Initial screening of the Grawemeyer Award in Education nominees is conducted by a committee of College of Education and Human Development faculty who select 2-4 finalists for the Grawemeyer Award in Education.
The final selection committee is comprised of the President of the University or designee, the Dean of the College of Education and Human Development, and three members of the community who share an interest in the education enterprise. The work of this committee is supported by two expert independent scholarly reviewers. The committee recommends the award winner to the President who forwards the recommendation to the University of Louisville’s Board of Trustees. Final approval of the Grawemeyer Award winner is subject to approval by the University of Louisville’s Board of Trustees and the Trustees of the Louisville Presbyterian Seminary.
Award Requirements
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- The winner of the Award will be announced after December 1. The winner will be expected to come to Louisville during the month of March or April to make a formal presentation based on the winning idea, participate in informal meetings with faculty and students as requested, and to receive the Award. The trip to Louisville is mandatory and failure to fulfill this requirement will result in forfeiture of the Award and the associated cash prize. Any exception to this requirement must be approved by the Grawemeyer Executive Committee.
- Entrant agrees and accepts that, consistent with the intent of H. Charles Grawemeyer, the Award will not be given posthumously. The Entrant must be living in order to receive the Award and must participate in the Award festivities referenced above in order to receive the Award and the associated cash prize. If the nominated Work was written by multiple authors, one or more of whom is deceased, only the living authors are eligible to receive the Award and the associated cash prize. The cash prize will be presentedĀ at the Award festivities.
- Entrant agrees and accepts that the cash prize associated with the Award will be paid in full at the awards ceremony. Winning the Award does not create any property rights in the cash prize for the recipientās heirs or estate. In the event that the Award is given to multiple recipients (such as co-authors), there is only one cash prize associated with the Award and said cash prize will be divided evenly among the recipients. If a co-author dies, payment to that co-author will cease and the full amount of the remaining prize will be divided evenly between the still-living co-authors.
- Entrant shall participate, as appropriate, and cooperate in the production of any documentary film or other public relations or publicity matters related to the Competition, including the execution of any necessary releases and/or authorizations.
- Entrant hereby grants permanent permission for the University of Louisville to use the title and excerpts from the Work and any media depicting their receipt and acceptance of the Award for library and archival purposes, and for the purpose of promoting the Grawemeyer Awards and their affiliation with the University of Louisville. The term āmediaā is understood to include, but not be limited to, audio and visual images and/or recordings of any format which depict the Entrantās visit to the campus[es] of the University of Louisville, the Awards presentation itself and any comments made by the Entrant as part of the campus visit[s] and the Awards festivities.
- All physical materials submitted become the property of the University of Louisville.
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Send letters of nomination and all supporting materials to:
Dr. Jeffrey C. Valentine, Director
Grawemeyer Award in Education
College of Education & Human Development
University of Louisville
Louisville KY 40292
USA
For packages sent by UPS, FedEx, etc.:
Grawemeyer Award in Education
College of Education and Human Development
University of Louisville
1905 S 1st St
Louisville KY 40208
USA
Phone: 502-852-3830
Previous Winners
How can the nationās public universities do a better job educating students of color?
Two University of California sociologists exploring that question are cowinners of the 2024 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Education for their ideas in āBroke: The Racial Consequences of Underfunding Public Universities.ā University of Chicago Press published the book in 2021.
An economist who found that integrating U.S. public schools in the 1970s and 1980s benefited students over time has won the 2022 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Education.
Rucker Johnson, a University of California-Berkeley public policy professor specializing in education economics, received the prize for ideas set forth in āChildren of the Dream: Why School Integration Works,ā his 2019 book written with Alexander Nazaryan and co-published by Basic Books and the Russell Sage Foundation.
2021 – Jal Mehta and Sarah Fine
How can American high schools move away from rote learning and testing and help students become critical thinkers ready to take on the challenges of modern life?
Educators Jal Mehta and Sarah Fine, who spent six years researching the issue at 30 U.S. high schools, have co-won the 2021 Grawemeyer Award in Education for ideas set forth in their book, āIn Search of Deeper Learning: The Quest to Remake the American High School.ā Harvard University Press published the prize-winning book in April.
2020 – No Award Given
2018 – Sara Goldrick-Rab
The modern struggle to pay for a college education has been extensively researched by Goldrick-Rab. Ā In her award-winning 2016 book, āPaying the Price: College Costs, Financial Aid and the Betrayal of the American Dream,ā she findsĀ that U.S. students have been left behind by soaring costs combined with a financial aid system that has not kept up with demand. The result is a generation that, during a time when a college education is ever more important, is unable to get ahead because of crushing debt and unfinished degrees.
āThis book is intended to be a wake-up call,ā writes Goldrick-Rab, who teaches higher education policy and sociology. āIt brings the lives of students pursuing college degrees front and center and unveils their financial struggles.ā
2015 – Andy Hargreaves and Michael Fullan
Treat them with respect, let them learn from their peers and give them the freedom to make decisions as a team. Thatās the formula for developing great teachers, say two scholars who will share the 2015 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Education for the ideas expressed in their book, āProfessional Capital: Transforming Teaching in Every School.ā
2014 – Diane RavitchĀ
Ravitch, a New York University research professor of education, has won the 2014 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Education for her 2010 book, āThe Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice are Undermining Education.ā The work chronicles her decades-long journey from reform advocate to critic and encourages a return to school curriculums that value art, literature, creativity and problem solving.
2013 – Pasi Sahlberg
Reform-minded educators eager to learn about Finlandās highly successful school system often are shocked to find that elementary-level students have a four-hour day, do little homework, rarely take tests and donāt even start school until age seven.
2012 – Linda Darling-Hammond
Providing equally good schooling for all American childrenā rich or poor and regardless of raceāwould improve the nationās failing education system.
2010 – Keith Stanovich
Having a high IQ and good standardized test scores doesnāt guarantee that you will make good decisions, says the winner of the 2010 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Education.
2009 – Paul Attewell and David Lavin
Non-traditional students who attend college through open enrollment generally do well and their success carries forward to the next generation, say two scholars who have won the 2009 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Education.
2008 – Edward Zigler, Walter Gilliam and Stephanie Jones
2008 – A Vision for Universal Preschool Education
2007 – James Comer
Leave No Child Behind: Preparing Todayās Youth for Tomorrowās World
2006 – Lee Shulman
The Wisdom of Practice: Essays on Teaching, Learning and Learning to Teach
2005 – Elliot W. Eisner
“The Arts and the Creation of Mind”
2003 – Deborah Brandt
“Literacy in American Lives”
2002 – Martha Nussbaum
“Cultivating Humanity: A Classical Defense of Reform in Liberal Education”
2001 – William G. Bowen and Derek Bok
“The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions”
2000 – Vanessa Siddle Walker
“Their Highest Potential: An African-American School Community in the Segregated South”
1998 – L. Scott Miller
“An American Imperative: Accelerating Minority Educational Advancement”
1997 – Mike Rose
“Possible Lives: The Promise of Public Education in America”
1996 – Victoria Purcell-Gates
“Other People’s Words: The Cycle of Low Literacy”
1995 – Shirley Brice Heath and Milbrey McLaughlin
“Identity & Inner-City Youth: Beyond Ethnicity and Gender”
1994 – John T. Bruer
“Schools for Thought: A Science of Learning in the Classroom”
1993 – Roland Tharp and Ronald Gallimore
“Rousing Minds to Life: Teaching, Learning and Schooling in Social Context”
1992 – Carol Gilligan
“In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development”
1991 – Kieran Egan
“Storytelling Is Key To Early Learning,” Educator Claims
1990 – Howard Gardner
“Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences”
1989 – Bertrand Schwartz
Innovations in Social and Vocational Preparations for Disadvantaged Youth
2025 Recipient
Mark R. Warren
Describes movement to dismantle school-to-prison pipeline
By: Grawemeyer Awards, University of Louisville
For researching and writing Willful Defiance: The Movement to Dismantle the School-to-Prison Pipeline, a book that describes and analyzes the building of the grassroots movement to end racially disproportionate school discipline policy and policing practices in schools across the U.S., University of Massachusetts Boston Professor Mark R. Warren will receive the 2025 Grawemeyer Award for Education.
In the book, Warren shows that some of the first people to name and challenge the school-to-prison pipeline (STPP) in a way that created a movement for change were Black and Brown parents and students of color in places like the Mississippi Delta. The movement they created played a pivotal role in placing the STPP on the agenda of educators and policymakers and led directly to the adoption by the Department of Education of federal guidelines warning against racially discriminatory school discipline policies. Where grassroots organizing has been strong and persistent, policymakers have ended zero-tolerance discipline policies and moved toward restorative alternatives, leading to important declines in exclusionary discipline, as well as more recent reforms to eliminate policing practices in schools.
āChange efforts in schools often focus on educators and school leaders, but usually fall short when it comes to addressing deep-seated systems that perpetuate inequity,ā said Director of the Grawemeyer Awards in Education and University of Louisville Professor of Educational Psychology Jeff Valentine. āAs Willful Defiance powerfully demonstrates, the voices, experiences, and leadership of those most affected by these issues must be central to any meaningful process of change.ā
āIām honored to receive this award, and particularly gratified to see community-engaged scholarship recognized with the highest merit,ā said Warren. āI thank my community partners, Black and Brown parents, students, and community organizers, who worked with me to produce this book as part of a movement for educational justice.ā
Video Interviews with Past Recipients
Today’s struggle to pay for a college education
2018 Education Recipient Sara Goldrick-Rab
The Political Classroom
2017 Education Recipients Diana Hess and Paula McAvoy
Education canāt Trump Impoverished Beginnings
2016 Education Recipients Karl Alexander and Linda Olson
Let Teachers Learn from their Peers and Decide Things as a Team
2015 Education Recipients Andy Hargreaves and Michael Fullan
Improving Public Education by Addressing the Needs of Impoverished Children
2014 Education Recipient Diane Ravitch
Successful Public School Reform
2013 Education Recipient Pasi Sahlberg
Schooling Equality
2012 Education Recipient Linda Darling-Hammond
What Intelligence Tests Miss
2010 Education Recipient Keith Stanovich
Interview WithĀ Paul Attewell and David Lavin
2009 EducationĀ Recipients Paul Attewell and David Lavin