Nominations open for 2025 Robinson Award for Diversity and Equity in Public Education

Nominations are open thru January 15th

(FRANKFORT, KY) – The Kentucky Board of Education (KBE) is accepting nominations for the 2025 Robinson Award for Diversity and Equity in Public Education.

Since 2004, the award has been given to an individual or group in Kentucky for outstanding leadership, commitment and service in promoting equity and opportunities to learn at high levels for all Kentucky students.

Samuel Robinson, for whom the award is named, is a former educator who served on KBE from 1991 to 2004. He is known for being a racial and social justice advocate and for promoting the difference education can make in the lives of all students.

A noted educator and civil rights leader, Robinson began his career in Kentucky in Louisville in 1960. His diverse background in public education included everything from principal at Shawnee High School (now the Academy at Shawnee) to president of the Lincoln Foundation. He also was a well-known community figure as Louisville navigated the Civil Rights era.

The criteria for the Robinson Award includes, but is not limited to:

• Successful efforts in closing socioeconomic and/or racial achievement gaps; and
• Significantly improving student learning, student achievement or other measured outcomes among students of color or economically disadvantaged students.

Nominations will be accepted through Jan. 15. Nominations can be made through the 2025 Samuel Robinson Award for Diversity and Equity in Public Education Google form.

For more information on the award, see the KBE awards webpage and read about past winners on the Kentucky Department of Education’s Kentucky Teacher website.