2024 Crane Excellence in Early Childhood Awards: Nominations open!

The Schoenbaum and Crane centers are committed to building equitable opportunities for all young children to learn and thrive. Foundational to this commitment to young children are partnerships across practice, policy, research, and evaluation. We bring together passionate experts from across disciplines and domains, believing that the sum is always greater than its parts.

The annual Symposium on Children is one of the landmark ways that Crane brings together early childhood experts into one room, and we could not think of a more appropriate event to honor those who have inspired us with their efforts on behalf of young children. That’s why at last year’s symposium we launched the first Crane Excellence in Early Childhood Awards, and we plan to continue to honor experts in early childhood at this year’s symposium on Thursday, October 3 at the Marriott Columbus OSU hotel.

We will honor three individuals with proven Excellence in Early Childhood in the state of Ohio. Awardees will be individuals who have consistently demonstrated leadership, innovation, commitment to equity, the ability to achieve meaningful results, or impacts for Ohio children. Awards will be given to an educator or practitioner, a researcher, and a policy leader, for a total of three awards.

Practice award: The practice award for Excellence in Early Childhood will be given to a person who demonstrates a commitment to high-quality early childhood education, providing an example to others in the field to advance in early childhood education practices.

The following criteria will be evaluated when selecting an award recipient. To submit a nomination, please send a 2-page nomination statement that describes how the nominee meets and exceeds the qualifications below:

• Provide example(s) of how the nominee implements high-quality, evidence-based practices.
• Describe how the nominee provides mentorship or acts as an example to other practitioners in the field.
• Provide example(s) of how the practitioner engages families in their work.
• Describe how the nominee demonstrates commitment to equity in their work.
• How many years / how long has this person been conducting this work?

Research: The research award for Excellence in Early Childhood will be given to a person who demonstrates commitment to and effectiveness in conducting research or evaluation related to early childhood development and improving the wellbeing of young children and their families.

The following criteria will be evaluated when selecting an award recipient. To submit a nomination, please send a 2-page nomination statement that describes how the nominee meets and exceeds the qualifications below:

• Provide example(s) of how the nominee conducts rigorous research or evaluation work that contributes to the knowledge-base surrounding early childhood development.
• Describe how the nominee’s research agenda is innovative and seeks to shift current research/evaluation paradigms by using novel theoretical concepts or approaches.
• Provide example(s) of how the nominee’s research has implications for practice and/or policy.
• Describe how the nominee demonstrates commitment to equity in their work.
• How many years / how long has this person been conducting this work?

Policy: The policy award for Excellence in Early Childhood will be given to a person who demonstrates commitment to and effectiveness in advancing policy change that improves the wellbeing of young children and their families.

The following criteria will be evaluated when selecting an award recipient. To submit a nomination, please send a 2-page recommendation letter that describes how the nominee meets and exceeds the qualifications below:

• Provide example(s) of how the nominee works in a community or policy capacity that improves the lives of most vulnerable children.
• Provide example(s) of how the nominee demonstrates thought leadership or raising awareness about a critical early childhood issue that needs attention.
• Describe how the nominee builds support/broad coalitions for achieving change.
• Describe how the nominee demonstrates commitment to equity in their work.
• How many years / how long has this person been conducting this work?