Manitoba Early Childhood Educator Awards of Excellence
Deadline to Nominate: August 8th, 2025
The Early Childhood Educator Awards of Excellence honours Early Childhood Educators (ECEs) who play a vital role in shaping the lives of children under the age of twelve. The awards celebrate early learning and child care professionals who exhibit standards of excellence in early childhood education and recognize home-based providers for their contributions to enhancing children’s growth and development.
A reception honouring all recipients will be hosted in October 2025. Each award recipient will be presented with a certificate of recognition and a cheque for $500.
The Early Childhood Educator Awards of Excellence are presented annually in the following categories:
- Outstanding Early Childhood Educator Award (five awards)
- Collaborative Early Learning Team Award (one award, three to five recipients)
- Leadership Excellence Award (one award)
- Premier's Award for Early Childhood Education Excellence (one award)
- SPECIAL RECOGNITION: Home-Based Early Learning Program
- Exemplary Home-Based Early Learning Environment Award (three awards)
Awards, Criteria and Eligibility
Awards, criteria and nominee and nominator eligibility is based on centre and home-based awards as follows:
Outstanding Early Childhood Educator Award
These awards are presented to Early Childhood Educators in a child care centre who demonstrate exemplary professional, inclusive practices and an ability to inspire children, families and colleagues by going above and beyond. This award acknowledges an Early Childhood Educator’s exceptional commitment to ensure the health, safety and well-being of children while creating developmentally appropriate, stimulating environments for children to explore, play and learn.
- One of the Outstanding Early Childhood Educator Awards is designated for an Indigenous Early Childhood Educator.
- One of the Outstanding Early Childhood Educator Awards is designated for a Francophone Early Childhood Educator.
Criteria
An Early Childhood Educator in a child care centre who displays outstanding professional practices in the area of children’s learning and development by:
- demonstrating knowledge and skills that provide or support high-quality earlylearning and childcare.
- fostering strong relationships with parents, families, and their community.
- provides inclusive care, accommodating the diverse needs and backgrounds of all children participating in their program.
- One of five awards will be presented to an Early Childhood Educator who self identifies as an Indigenous person (First Nation, Métis or Inuit) and incorporates high quality, culturally specific Indigenous perspectives (language, land-based teachings, culture, traditions, values)into the daily curriculum.
- One of five awards will be presented to an Early Childhood Educator working in a facility that has declared programming status as Français, French Immersion or Bilingual with the Early Learning and Childcare Division and is focused on the development and implementation of high-quality early childhood programming that promotes the French language and Francophone culture.
Eligibility
- An Early Childhood Educator who holds a valid Early Childhood Educator II or III certification with the Government of Manitoba may be nominated.
- At the time of the nomination, the nominee must be working directly with children under the age of twelve in a licensed child care centre on a daily basis.
- Two nominators/descriptions required. Nominators may be any person with direct knowledge of the nominee's contribution and daily practice, such as: colleagues, centre director, assistant director, supervisors, board of directors, Early Childhood Education instructors, elders and school representatives (if the nominee works in a child care centre located in a school).
The following are not acceptable nomination methods:
- Self-nominations
- Nominations from parents with children attending the program
- Posthumous nominations
- Nominations from immediate family members*
- Nominations from nomination review panel members
- Nominations from employees of the Early Learning and Child Care Division
Collaborative Early Learning Team Award
This award honours Early Childhood Educator teams collaborating with schools and/or community organizations to enhance early childhood learning and development. These teams are based in pre-schools, nursery schools or school-age facilities and have developed an exceptional collaborative partnership with the school or community organization to benefit the early learning and child care program and/or the community.
Criteria
A team of Early Childhood Educators that demonstrate excellence in their partnership with the school or school division in which their centre is located and/or a community organization (from outside of the child care sector) by:
- working together towards common goals and in a supporting children, their families and the broader community
- engaging in innovative partnerships to support or deliver services, ensure inclusion
- encouraging diversity and support community efforts and continuous improvement of child care practices.
The nomination package for the Collaborative Early Learning Team Award must include a separate nomination form for each member of the team.
Eligibility
- An Early Childhood Educator who holds a valid Early Childhood Educator II or III certification with the Government of Manitoba may be nominated.
- at the time of the nomination, the nominee must be working directly with children under the age of twelve in a licensed child care centre on a daily basis.
- Two nominators/descriptions required.
- Nominators may be any person with direct knowledge of the nominee's contribution and daily practice, such as: colleagues, centre director, assistant director, supervisors, board of directors, Early Childhood Education instructors, elders and school representatives (if the nominee works in a child care centre located in a school).
The following are not acceptable nomination methods:
- Self-nominations
- Nominations from parents with children attending the program
- Posthumous nominations
- Nominations from immediate family members*
- Nominations from nomination review panel members
- Nominations from employees of the Early Learning and Child Care Division
Outstanding Early Childhood Leadership Excellence Award
This award recognizes a centre director, assistant director or supervisor who is certified as an Early Childhood Educator II or Early Childhood Educator III and who embodies leadership by encouraging and guiding others, displaying exceptional dedication, collaboration, creativity, and vision. They also demonstrate knowledge and skills that support the delivery of high-quality child care.
Criteria
A director, assistant director or supervisor who is responsible for program management within a child care centre and demonstrates an exemplary commitment to:
- fostering a positive work environment
- promoting early learning and child care as a profession
- developing creative and innovative methods to support the recruitment and retention of staff and ensure the integration of all staff well-being into overall operations.
A minimum of two years experience as a director, assistant director or supervisor is required.
Eligibility
- An Early Childhood Educator who holds a valid Early Childhood Educator II or III certification with the Government of Manitoba may be nominated.
- at the time of the nomination, the nominee must be working directly with children under the age of twelve in a licensed child care centre on a daily basis.
- Two nominators/descriptions required.
- Nominators may be any person with direct knowledge of the nominee's contribution and daily practice, such as: colleagues, centre director, assistant director, supervisors, board of directors, Early Childhood Education instructors, elders and school representatives (if the nominee works in a child care centre located in a school).
The following are not acceptable nomination methods:
- Self-nominations
- Nominations from parents with children attending the program
- Posthumous nominations
- Nominations from immediate family members*
- Nominations from nomination review panel members
- Nominations from employees of the Early Learning and Child Care Division
Premier’s Award for Early Childhood Education Excellence
The recipient(s) of this award will be selected from among the award recipients for the above-mentioned categories and must be classified as an Early Childhood Educator(s). This Early Childhood Educator or team distinguishes themselves by their most remarkable contribution to early childhood education.
Special Recognition: Home-Based Award for Individuals
Exemplary Home-Based Early Learning Environment Award
This award celebrates a licensed home-based child care provider who demonstrates exemplary commitment to play-based programming that nurtures children’s growth and development while promoting early learning. The recipient demonstrates professionalism in a family-like, high quality and inclusive environment and shows the utmost dedication to providing remarkable child care services.
Criteria
A licensed home-based provider that demonstrates an exemplary commitment to :
- facilitating play-based learning that nurtures children while supporting their growth and development
- demonstrating professionalism in a family-like personalized inclusive environment.
- creating and maintains a high-quality and inclusive environment for children.
Eligibility
- Must be a licensed home-based child care provider in good standing.
- At the time of the nomination, the nominee must be working directly with children under the age of twelve in a licensed child care home on a daily basis.
- One nominator/description required.
- Nominators maybe parents/guardians of child whoattend the nominee’s family child care home and/or colleagues in a group-homechild care setting, or home-based child care network.
The following are not acceptable nomination methods:
- Self-nominations
- Nominations from parents with children attending the program
- Posthumous nominations
- Nominations from immediate family members*
- Nominations from nomination review panel members
- Nominations from employees of the Early Learning and Child Care Division
How to Prepare and Submit a Nomination
Submit a complete nomination package that includes the following completed documents, no later than August 8th, 2025. Please, no handwritten submissions.
- Award nomination form (PDF) – The nominee and nominator (s) must complete and sign this fillable form. Signatures are required from the nominee and nominator(s).
- A nomination description. One description is required from each required nominator. The nomination description should explain how the nominee demonstrates the criteria in the award category as outlined in the criteria and eligibility section for the award category. All text must be typed and include the name of nominator.
See section on award nomination writing tips here
Only a complete nomination package, including complete and signed nomination form(s) and required nomination description(s), will be considered by the nomination review panel. Multimedia files (ex: DVD, CD, USB key) will not be considered.
Please submit nomination package, by mail or email, no later than August 8th, 2025 to:
Manitoba Early Childhood Educator Awards of Excellence
Early Learning and Child Care Division
210-114 Garry Street
Winnipeg MB, R3C 1G1
Email: eceawards@gov.mb.ca
Note: A nomination package that is emailed after the deadline will not be accepted. Mailed nomination packages postmarked on the day of the deadline will be considered if they are complete.
Nomination Process and Selection
All nominees and their nominator(s) will be notified by email when their nomination package has been received.
A letter will be mailed to all selected award recipients by September and will include further details about the Awards recognition and event to follow. Each of the nominee’s nominators, director and board of directors (when applicable) will receive a copy of this letter.
Contact
For additional inquiries about the Manitoba Early Childhood Educator Awards of Excellence, email: eceawards@gov.mb.ca
*Immediate family is defined as a nominee's father, mother (or stepfather, stepmother, or foster parent), brother, sister (including step or half sibling), spouse (including common law partner), child (including child of common law partner), stepchild or ward of the employee, grandparent, grandchild, father in law, mother in law and relative permanently residing in the employee's household or with whom the employee permanently resides.
