The Don Hellison TPSR Award

Description

​

The Don Hellison Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility (TPSR) Award was established by the TPSR Alliance to recognize an outstanding practitioner who has demonstrated notable contributions to a youth program that uses the TPSR model to promote life skill development through sport and physical activity.

​

Eligibility

 

To be eligible, a nominee must:

1. be a practitioner (e.g., coach, youth worker, teacher) working with students in a structured environment (e.g., after school program, physical education class, community program, etc.);

2. be doing TPSR-inspired work, utilizing core values and responsibility-based teaching strategies as described in Hellison (2011) book; 

3. provide all application materials listed below by the stated deadlines; and 

4. be able to attend the annual TPSR Alliance conference (in person or virtually) in Chicago, Illinois

 

July 16-19 to accept the award and give a presentation on their work.
 

Applicants from prior years may reapply but must submit updated application materials.

 

Application Materials

​

1. Letter of nomination. A letter of nomination must be submitted by an individual who knows the nominee, their work and the TPSR model well enough to make a compelling case for why the nominee is deserving of the award.

2. Resume. The nominee must submit a current resume (or curriculum vita) including relevant experience teaching, coaching, volunteering, etc. 

3. References. The nominee must submit a list of two references (not including nominator). References do not need to submit a letter, but may be contacted by members of the reviewing committee. Contact information including an email address and telephone number must be provided as well as a brief description of their connection/relationship to the nominee. 

4. Essay. The nominee must submit a 500 to 700-word essay describing the following aspects of their TPSR program:

   1. ​Describe the context in which you implement TPSR (setting, student demographics, etc.).

   2. Explain your philosophy of teaching/coaching and how it aligns with TPSR.

   3. Provide examples of how you implement TPSR values/strategies in your program.

   4. Please supplement your examples with artifacts, direct quotes, and/or examples of the impact of those participating.

   5. Describe some of your key successes and/or small victories implementing TPSR.

   6. Describe some challenges you’ve faced and/or lessons learned through implementing TPSR.

   7. Submit any supporting documents that represent how the nominee has implemented TPSR in their programs.
       

Selection Process

​

The selection committee will be composed of members of 2025 TPSR Alliance. The committee members will review all complete applications that are received by the deadlines provided below. Those applications will be scored with a rubric reflecting the eligibility criteria and contents of the application described above. The committee will meet after scoring applications individually and deliberate until consensus is reached on the award recipient. Members of the selection committee are not eligible for the award but can serve as nominators. In the event that a selection committee member does nominate an individual, that committee member will recuse themselves from scoring that nominee’s application.
 

Nature of the Award

​

An engraved award will be shipped to the recipient after the 2025 TPSR Alliance Conference. The awardee’s conference registration fees will be waived however travel expenses are not covered. The awardee will accept their award and talk about their work virtually or in person at the TPSR Alliance conference in Chicago, Illinois, USA. The awardee will be featured on the conference website as well as the TPSR Alliance website.

​

Timeline

​

1. Nomination letters and complete application materials must be submitted to Claire Newman (newmanc@wfu.edu) by April 20th, 2025. Letter-writers are responsible for communicating with their nominee about submitting full application materials. Only complete applications will be their nominee about submitting full (newmanc@wfu.edu) by April 20th, 2025. Letter-writers are responsible for communicating with Nomination letters and complete application materials must be submitted to Claire Newman

2. The awardee will be notified before May 2nd, 2025.

3. The awardee will submit all presentation materials to the planning committee by July 1 st , 2025

4. The awardee will attend (either in person or virtually) and present at the 2023 TPSR Conference July 16-19, 2025.