CHARLESTON, W.Va. –The West Virginia Department of Education and the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce are teaming up to expand the department’s annual recognition of education professionals.
The Champions of Learning awards aim to highlight the collaborative effort, and the role businesses, educators, and staff play in supporting student success.
“To be able to participate with our public school system in recognizing five categories of excellence and identifying, welcoming in person, saying a real personal thank you to the people who are making our public schools excellent,” Chamber president Steve Roberts said recently on MetroNews Talkline.
The event, scheduled for September 8, 2026, will replace the department’s former Excellence in Education Awards.
During the awards, they will continue honoring the state’s Teacher of the Year and Service Personnel of the Year, while expanding recognition for Counselor of the Year and Principal of the Year.
State Superintendent of Schools Michele Blatt said teaming up with the chamber allows them to create a bigger celebration for their winners.
“It gives us the opportunity, with the chamber foundation, to bring in the winners from all 55 counties, celebrate them, give them the recognition they deserve, and then have a large audience there available as we call out the winner for each of those categories at the state level,” Blatt said.
The Chamber Foundation will also recognize a Business of the Year that demonstrates a strong commitment to education.
Roberts said education is the foundation for everything, and they want to recognize businesses that invest in it.
“If you’re trying to build a business, you want to be able to hire from a well-educated workforce, if you’re trying to build a business you want to have a well-educated population to sell too because education and income levels go hand-in-hand,” he said.
Blatt said it’s important to recognize these faculty members to showcase the impact they make on schools across the state.
“To be able for all of them to get to come to Charleston, to be celebrated, for the business community and others to be there, to recognize their work, to contribute to their work, it’s going to be the event that they all deserve and getting back to reorganizing all of those categories and the impact that they make on our schools,” she said.
Applications are now open for state-level recognition and must be submitted by May 4.
Blatt said once applications close, her team will begin reviewing submissions.
“Our team at the Department of Education, led by Brooke Green, will dig into those applications, start doing interviews, to where we will select the finalists, and then they will be announced September 8,” she said.