Celebrate True Heroes, Nominate a Great Teacher
All Kindergarten-12th Grade Teachers Are Eligible for the 2006 Disney Teacher Awards

Burbank, Calif. – Recognize an outstanding teacher who is sparking the imaginations of children across your community. Disney is accepting nominations for America’s most creative teachers from now until October 15, 2005. Next year’s awards will go to the country’s most extraordinary, creative teachers as part of the 2006 Disney Teacher Awards – but first you need to nominate them.

Teachers in public, private and parochial schools, Pre-Kindergarten-12th grades are eligible to be nominated. Nominations can be made until October 15th in one of two ways:

online at www.DisneyHand.com
by phoning toll free, 1-877-282-8322

Since 1989, Disney Teacher Awards have been presented to teachers who construct learning environments where students and teachers alike explore, imagine, and engage in a variety of stimulating ideas and experiences. Specifically, the program honors those teachers whose approaches exemplify creativity in teaching and who inspire a joy of learning in their students.

“Sixteen years ago, we started celebrating local heroes by establishing the annual Disney Teacher Awards to honor America’s finest educators,” said Terry Wick, vice president, Disney Worldwide Outreach. “We hope all communities will take this opportunity to acknowledge their heroes as well – their greatest teachers. This nomination process shows thousands of teachers across the country how much their work means to their students, colleagues and communities.”

Honorees will be selected from the nationwide nominees. From there, they will be celebrated at a red-carpet Awards Gala in July, will be featured during a Disneyland Main Street Parade and Ceremony at Sleeping Beauty Castle, will attend VIP events and receptions, and will share teaching strategies with their fellow award-winning teachers. During the Gala, four Honorees will be selected as Outstanding Teachers and one will be named the 2006 Disney Teacher of the Year. In addition, the Honorees each receive $10,000, a $5,000 grant for their school and a six-day professional development institute with their principal at the Walt Disney World Resort. At the institute, teachers share ideas to refine their innovative teaching approaches and learn how to engage other teachers to build an effective collaborative teaching culture at their school.

The Disney Teacher Awards is part of DisneyHand, worldwide outreach for The Walt Disney Company. DisneyHand is dedicated to making the wishes of families and children a reality through public service initiatives, community outreach and volunteerism in the areas of compassion, learning, the arts and the environment. For more information, please visit www.disneyhand.com.