Green Garner Award

Green-Garner Award

Each year at its annual Fall Conference, the Council presents a board member or superintendent with the Green-Garner Award, the nation's highest urban education honor recognizing outstanding contributions in urban education and named in memory of urban school leaders Richard R. Green and Edward Garner.

The Green-Garner Award is the namesake of the first African American chancellor of the New York City school system and a businessman and former school board president of the Denver Public Schools, respectively. The award is sponsored by the Council and Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education, and media company.

This year, the award will recognize an outstanding superintendent whose visionary leadership, commitment to excellence, and measurable impact have advanced student outcomes and strengthened public education in an urban school district. The winner will receive a $10,000 scholarship for a student in their district.

The winner of the award will be announced during the Council's 70th Annual Fall Conference in Boston, MA, at the evening banquet on Thursday, October 22. The deadline for the 2026 award has passed.

The winner of the 2025 Green-Garner Award was Philadelphia School Board Member Joyce Wilkerson.

Download the Press Release.

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