The 48th Annual Awards & Scholarships Nominations WILL OPEN SOON!
IHSA is excited to recognize and thank the exceptional individuals
who strengthen the Illinois Head Start & Early Head Start community.
Awardees will be honored at the Annual Awards Luncheon on March 19, 2026!
AWARD & SCHOLARSHIP CATEGORIES
This award acknowledges the important contributions of forward-thinking administrators to the long-term success of Head Start/Early Head Start programs and, ultimately, the children and families they serve. The successful candidate is a current employee of a Head Start/Early Head Start program in Illinois serving in a role that oversees the leadership of an organization at the Executive, Director or Assistant Director levels for 5+ years.
This award recognizes the individual involved in Education components of a Head Start/Early Head Start program, including classroom Lead Teachers, Teacher Assistant, Education Manager, Education Specialist, Home Visiting staff, and Instructional Mentors and Coaches. The successful candidate is a current employee of a Head Start/Early Head Start program in Illinois for 5+ years.
This award acknowledges the important contributions of staff who work in Administration, Management, Family Services, Facilities, Food Service, Transportation, Health, Disabilities, Mental Health, and Social Services. The successful candidate is a current employee of a Head Start/Early Head Start program in Illinois for 5+ years.
This award honors a Head Start/Early Head Start parent who demonstrates exceptional leadership skills. The parent exemplifies a role model for his/her children and to other parents and makes effort to make a positive difference in the community. The successful candidate must have a child(ren) enrolled in the current program year. The candidate holds a position of leadership on a Site Council, Parent Policy Council, State, Regional or National association.
This scholarship is to support the college education in the field of study in any area for a current or past Early Head Start/Head Start parent, current Early Head Start/Head Start staff member or former Early Head Start/ Head Start child. The applicant can be attending and/or attended college in the past but does not have to have any college experience to apply. However, the applicant must have their High School diploma or GED to qualify.
This scholarship supports working towards completion of a Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education for:
Current Head Start staff member,
Current or past Head Start parent,
OR a Former Head Start child,
Recipient must have ongoing college experience at an accredited Institution of Higher Education.
The selected Mary Alice Buchanan Memorial Scholarship will receive:
DOWNLOAD Award Categories & Eligibility List
NOMINATION PROCESS
You are invited to nominate, or self-nominate, the next Administrator, Teacher, Support Staff, and Parent of the Year, along with scholarship recipients.
Submit the following:
Submit the following:
Applications WILL OPEN SOON & will be accepting until Friday, February 6.
*We strongly recommend applicants type their responses in a separate document and save them in a safe, accessible location in the event that any entries are interrupted by an unlikely system timeout or website error that could cause loss of data.
*Only completed applications will be considered.
Upon successful submission of your Award or Scholarship Application, a committee will review each application and narrow the number of selected applications using a standardized rubric. Rubric or Scoring Form available upon request.
When a select number of applications are decided, the selected applicants will be notified to submit further documentation. Chosen applicants will be asked to submit letters of support 3 weeks before IHSA Annual Award Luncheon.
After careful deliberation of additional documentation, the Award and Scholarship committee will select the appropriate winners of the scholarships and awards from the cumulative score garnered from the applications and letters of support. Winners will be recognized at the Annual IHSA Awards Luncheon. Attendance is highly encouraged, however, Scholarship and Award recipients are not required to be present to receive an award.