4/5/2022
Education and Outreach
“Our schools are only as good as our teachers,” says Glenn Cook, executive editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, media partner for The Smith Center’s Heart of Education Awards since 2016. Teachers can’t get enough thanks for their dedication, Cook says, and like journalism, teaching is a calling. That’s why the Review-Journal takes pride in supporting the Heart of Education Awards, he adds, which honors outstanding teachers in Clark County School District (CCSD). The program not only celebrates several hundred educators as finalists but also recognizes the top 20 teachers with a $5,000 cash award each and a $1,000 donation to their schools. “Recognition on a scale as big as the Las Vegas Valley shows that we, as a community, value their hard work and will reward their excellence,” Cook says.
Each year, the Review-Journal provides thousands of dollars in print and digital in-kind advertising to support the promotion of the Heart of Education Awards. The organization’s executive team also presented awards to teachers on stage in years past. Producing journalism that upholds and informs democracy requires an engaged, literate readership, Cook says. As a result, education remains an important pillar of the Review-Journal’s community involvement, he explains.
“It’s imperative that Nevada students gain the proficiencies needed to read, think critically and understand the purpose of government, the role of a constitutionally protected free press, and their obligations as future voters and taxpayers,” says Cook.
A MULTIPRONGED APPROACH
In addition to sponsorship of the Heart of Education Awards, the Review-Journal offers a variety of education-related programs, including Newspapers in Education, the High School Journalism Awards and the Academic Excellence Awards.
Newspapers in Education — a nationwide program offering online tools for teachers to use newspapers as an educational resource — allows the Review-Journal and its subscribers to give young adults access to essential community information. “News isn’t just for adults,” says Cook. “We want the valley’s youth to have access to news, as well.
This year, the Review-Journal's 44th High School Journalism Awards recognize the best in student journalism across Clark County. Cook says the contest is highly competitive in writing, photography and overall excellence in print and online. The Review-Journal's newsroom staff judge the contest. "The future of the news business depends on robust high school journalism," Cook says. "Most members of our staff started their journalism careers in high school."
The Review-Journal’s Academic Excellence Awards program recognizes first through 12th-grade students in Southern Nevada who exhibit academic achievement, community involvement, and leadership in and out of the classroom. The awards recognize one elite student from every grade. Students can be nominated only by their teachers, and an independent panel of judges picks the winning student from each grade. “It’s important that we recognize the valley’s best students, as well as its best teachers,” Cook says. “It’s an incredible honor for our kids, and they absolutely float on air when they learn they’ve won. It’s really fun to be behind the effort.”
MAKING IT PERSONAL
With the Review-Journal helping The Smith Center and The Rogers Foundation recognize outstanding teachers each year, Cook says, community involvement in education becomes very personal for the news organization’s team. “We never forget that our employees call Southern Nevada home,” Cook says. “We all work to make this community a better place. We are raising our children here, and our wishes for them and all valley kids are to dream big and realize their dreams.”
For more information about the seventh-annual Heart of Education Awards, click HERE.