As the education landscape continued to shift in 2025, Honored’s mission remained steady as ever, continuing to recognize and uplift life-changing teachers. While educators navigate burnout, workloads, and declining satisfaction, they still continue to show up and go above and beyond for their students and families. Their resilience and dedication to their work inspire not only students but entire communities.
At Honored, we work to highlight the power of recognition and the impact one teacher can have on a single student. Through meaningful Honor Story tributes and Honored National Teaching Awards, we continued to celebrate educators and keep them inspired in their work.
Through our national teacher recognition program, Honored National, students and families across the country have provided direct, meaningful recognition of their teachers. This year, we received over 575 Honor Stories from across 45 states and the District of Columbia. We also recognized 11 of the teachers nominated by their students with the prestigious Honored National Teacher Award, which includes $5,000 in unrestricted cash as well as a featured episode on Inspiring Teachers: The Honored Podcast.
During 2025, these stories meaningfully impact educators, and the results of our teacher surveys consistently offer compelling evidence of program efficacy. In 2024:
In 2025, we honored our first-ever Honored Advocate for Teachers Award, Jennifer Garner. The annual award, presented each September, recognizes a public figure who consistently uses their platform to uplift teachers and advocate for the issues that educators face. Garner was selected for her ongoing dedication to celebrating the educators who shaped her and for her tireless advocacy on behalf of children, families, and teachers nationwide. She was featured on Inspiring Teachers: The Honored Podcast, where she discusses the importance of teachers and why they deserve more recognition and support.
"I have met the most incredible people on the planet, and they are teachers in America."
 - Jennifer Garner, Recipient of the Honored Advocate for Teachers Award
In 2025, we celebrated the first anniversary of Inspiring Teachers: The Honored Podcast where we shine a spotlight on the extraordinary impact teachers make across the country. Every month, we bring you the story of the recipient of our Honored National Teaching Award as they share their impact alongside their nominators. We also share special organizational spotlight episodes to highlight educational organizations making a difference across the country.
We couldn’t have done any of this without your incredible support as a member of our community. With your support, we continue to share the stories of powerful educators and uplift them through recognition.Â
We are excited to enter 2026, and we look forward to honoring even more life-changing teachers across the country! If you have a life-changing teacher you want to nominate for our $5,000 Honored National Teaching Award, head to Honored.org/nominate to share your story.Â
