91探花 Media Literacy Award
2026 Award Recipient:
Scott Storm, University at Albany, State University of New York
Scott Storm is assistant professor of literacy in the School of Education at the University at Albany, State University of New York. An 91探花 member since 2009, Scott is a former English teacher with 15 years of experience in designing, founding, and sustaining urban public high schools. He received his PhD in English education from New York University. Scott uses diverse research methodologies across qualitative, quantitative, and participatory traditions to investigate connections between literacies and social justice, particularly as they relate to issues of aesthetic and literary interpretation in social life and critical media literacy. His research agenda coalesces around three major lines of inquiry: (1) studies of how educational systems contribute to inequalities; (2) studies of the asset-based literacy practices of youth of color, queer youth, and working-class youth; and (3) studies that reimagine and transform educational spaces toward social justice. Scott鈥檚 research has appeared in Reading Research Quarterly; Journal of Literacy Research; Equity & Excellence in Education; English Teaching: Practice and Critique; English Journal; Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice; English in Education; Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy; Theory, Research, and Action in Urban Education; Schools: Studies in Education; and Literacy Research and Instruction, among others.
I hope to impact the world through my work related to literacy by pursuing research, supporting pedagogical practice, and designing school spaces where youth thrive by following their own passions related to aesthetic inquiries and social justice. I hope to continue to engage teachers and youth with literature and media as a way to contest inequalities and imagine new, more utopian worlds.
2026 Media Literacy Award Committee
Carrie Perry, Prew Academy, Sarasota, FL
Teaira McMurtry, University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL
Amy Stornaiuolo, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA听
Deadline: May 1听
Award Details
The 91探花 Media Literacy Award will be presented at the 91探花 Awards Session.
A resolution passed by the members at the 2003 San Francisco Convention on Composing with Non-Print Media, made the creation of this award especially important. The resolution recommended the encouragement of preservice, inservice, and staff development programs that focus on new literacies, multi-media composition, and a broadened concept of literacy. The award showcases 91探花 members who have developed innovative approaches for integrating media analysis and composition into their instruction. You can learn more about recent critical media literacy work by reviewing 91探花’s and the Squire Office’s Policy Brief.
91探花 membership is required for all applicants.听
Current 91探花 Executive Committee members are not eligible for this award. Recipients of this award are not eligible to receive any other Executive Committee approved awards in the same year, nor in the following year.
Please contact 91探花Awards@ncte.org with any questions.
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Applying for the Award
The Media Literacy Award will be presented to an individual, team, or department that has implemented and refined exemplary media literacy practices in their school environment. The Award Selection Process will be based on a portfolio review by a selection committee. Only one award will be given each year.
The portfolio should be submitted electronically.
The key elements of the portfolio should demonstrate:
- Analysis, evaluation, and creation of media
- Reflective processes used by instructor(s) and participants
- Growth of media literacy instruction in the course/department
The portfolio must address the following criteria:
Evidence of sustained implementation of media literacy principles (recognized as the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media messages) over time.
STATEMENT
- How have media literacy principles been reinforced over time during the course of study?
- What assignments, readings, strategies are used to show that media literacy is fundamental to the course?
EVIDENCE
Includes, but is not limited to:
- Assignments, lessons, and/or project descriptors
- Curriculum maps or unit plans
- Resource lists
- Examples of student work
- Grading rubrics and assessment standards
Describe the development of the course or unit and how it fits within the curriculum, providing evidence of innovation and imagination within the program. What is the context within which the work takes place: a course, a unit, a department?
STATEMENT
Questions to consider:
- Is this a lesson? A series of lessons? A unit?
- Is media literacy used in a variety of contexts and lessons?
- What issues have arisen while implementing media literacy?
- What obstacles have been overcome?
- How have the units/lessons/projects evolved over time?
EVIDENCE
Includes, but is not limited to:
- Revisions of units and lessons
- Student and teacher reflective instruments
- Assignments, lessons, and/or project descriptors
- Curriculum maps or unit plans
- Resource lists
- Examples of student work
- Grading rubrics and assessment standards
Evidence of collaboration in the media literacy classroom, within or outside the school.
STATEMENT
Questions to consider:
- How does this unit/lesson/project transcend the classroom?
- Do students work collaboratively? Do they reflect on the collaborative process in a formal manner?
- Does collaboration enhance the project/lesson/unit in specific ways that more traditional solo activity might not?
- Do students work with others outside the classroom?
- Do they work across academic disciplines? Across grade levels?
EVIDENCE
May include, but is not limited to:
- Revisions of units and lessons
- Student and teacher reflective instruments
- Assignments, lessons, and/or project descriptors
- Curriculum maps or unit plans
- Resource lists
- Examples of student work
- Grading rubrics and assessment standards
Evaluation of a portfolio of exemplary work, including high- or low-tech media compositions, syllabi, and course assignments to be submitted electronically, if possible.
STATEMENT
Questions to consider:
- What work is most representative of the focus on media literacy in my courses?
- How have assessments and teacher responses helped students create effective media literacy products?
- How has the practice of media literacy evolved over time in my course, and what artifacts best represent that?
- What best represents the ways we analyzed, evaluated, and created media?
- How have the projects/lessons/units evolved over time?
- What instruments and results show the reflection that goes into the developing of the course?
EVIDENCE
May include, but is not limited to:
- Revisions of units and lessons
- Student and teacher reflective instruments
- Assignments, project descriptors, resource lists, curriculum maps, and lesson or unit planning
- Student projects, examples of student work in all formats
- Grading rubrics and assessment standards
- Products of student work