How Manatee's Excellence in Education selection process works

This is the fifth year the district has run the Excellence in Education Award ceremony The process begins in June, with each school or district site nominating a candidate. The nominees are then whittled down by a site committee and passed along to the district. Another committee then whittles that list down to the four finalists in each category. Winners are chosen and announced at an award ceremony in March.

A common theme among the finalists is leadership skills. The finalist should be "having an impact in the school and the community," said Jormarie Mere-Bearman, one of two district employees who help organize the program each year. "That's really what they look for."

Each winner gets a $5,000 award from the Suncoast Credit Union Foundation and the educator of the year gets a $1,000 award from the Macy's Foundation.

This story was originally published February 8, 2016 at 11:20 AM with the headline "How Manatee's Excellence in Education selection process works ."