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Awards for Teaching & Leading

TAIS celebrates excellence within its Member Schools by honoring outstanding teaching and leadership through two awards. Since 1986, The Hubert Smothers Award has highlighted excellence in teaching. From 1986 until 2022, the The Sawney Webb Award honored administrators who had made outstanding contributions to independent school education. In 2024, The Katherine Koonce Leadership Award was inaugurated to capture exemplary leadership among our network, and The Sawney Webb Award for Leadership was sunsetted. We are proud to continue a long legacy of celebrating teaching and leading through the examples of Hubert, Sawney, and Katherine -- and the many others who came before us.

 

 

The Hubert Smothers Award for Teaching

The Hubert Smothers Award is presented to teachers within TAIS who have evidenced a deep commitment to the teaching profession and who have demonstrated excellence in all they do.  The criteria for nomination are substantial and far-reaching.

 Nominees must:

  • Have 20 years in the teaching profession
  • Be a "life-long learner" and demonstrate an enthusiasm for teaching
  • Have a long-term positive impact on students
  • Have exhibited leadership in extra-curricular activities that involve education
  • Have a positive relationship with colleagues and administration
  • Possess a sensitivity to the needs of students and work unselfishly toward their development
  • Make contributions to further education beyond the school community and impact the wider local, state, or national educational community

The Hubert Smothers Award recipients are nominated to the TAIS Board of Directors by a member of their school's administration and awards are given at the TAIS Annual Conference. The Board creates a Selection Committee that determines the Hubert Smothers Award winners.

Hubert Smothers Award Recipients

 

 

The Katherine Koonce Leadership Award

The Katherine Koonce Leadership Award was inaugurated during the 2024 Annual Conference when it was given to Katherine Koonce, whose family accepted it on her behalf. The TAIS Board reviews nominations regularly for The Katherine Koonce Leadership Award. When TAIS created the Katherine Koonce Leadership Award, the board chose to sunset The Sawney Webb Award for leadership; in the past, nominations and winners for The Sawney Webb Award were determined by the TAIS Board of Directors. 

 

 

Sawney Webb Leadership Award     

In 1870, William Robert Webb, affectionately known to thousands as "Old Sawney," founded Webb School in Culleoka, Tennessee.  He was the Headmaster of Webb until his death in 1926 and a true embodiment of an outstanding Head of School.  He was a "good school man."  Because of his exemplary leadership, in 1986, TAIS established the Sawney Webb Award to honor administrators who have made outstanding contributions to the field of independent school education. When TAIS created the Katherine Koonce Leadership Award, the board chose to sunset The Sawney Webb Award for leadership; in the past, nominations and winners for The Sawney Webb Award were determined by the TAIS Board of Directors. 

Sawney Webb Award Recipients