The Lives of Teachers SIG makes two awards recognizing excellence in research. The Michael Huberman Award recognizes a scholar who has made outstanding contributions to scholarship on the lives of teachers. The Best Paper Award recognizes excellence in an as yet unpublished paper. These two awards are made in alternating years and are selected through a rigorous process of nomination and peer review.

The Michael Huberman Award

Every two years, the Lives of Teachers SIG presents the Michael Huberman Award to a scholar who has distinguished her/himself for outstanding scholarship on the lives of teachers.

Eligibility Criteria for the Michael Huberman Award:

The Michael Huberman Award shall be given to an individual who has contributed outstanding scholarship to the Lives of Teachers community of teachers and scholars that (1) furthers understanding of the rich complexity of teachers’ lives, (2) captures teachers’ perspectives and teachers’ voices, (3) transcends national boundaries in its scope and applicability, and (4) seeks to identify and highlight the unique qualities that characterize the profession of teaching.  The recipient of this award will have disseminated his or her scholarship through publications, presentations, and other collegial activities that promote interest in the study of the lives of teachers.

Previous winners of this prestigious award:

• Ivor Goodson, University of Brighton (United Kingdom) 2005 
• Robert Bullough, Brigham Young University (United States), 2007
• Christopher Day, Nottingham University (United Kingdom) 2011 
• Jean Clandinin, University of Alberta (Canada) 2013
• Cheryl Craig, University of Houston (United States) 2015
• Geert Kelchtermans, University of Leuven (Belgium) 2017
• Beatrice Avalos, University of Chile (Chile) 2019
• Lily Orland-Barak, University of Haifa (Israel) 2021

The Best Paper Award

Every two years, the Lives of Teachers SIG awards a Best Paper Award. This award highlights excellence, creativity, and innovation in research in the lives of teachers. Papers should reflect critical study on the lives of teachers from preschool teachers to graduate school and beyond.

Eligibility criteria: 

To be considered for an award, the potential nominations should meet the following eligibility criteria: 

• to be a fully developed paper on the topic of lives of teachers; 
• to be submitted to the Best Paper Award Committee by an established deadline;
• to be 8,000 words or less and in APA format; and
• to be unpublished and completed; 
• should be substantively different from what was previously presented if the paper was presented at past AERA or other than AERA meetings; and  
• the papers accepted for an upcoming AERA meeting are eligible to be considered for an award.    
• and substantively different from what has been previously presented at other conferences.