Global Teacher Prize Ukraine: who became the best teacher and what is known about the winner

This year, the Frontline Teacher nomination was also awarded for the first time.

Artur Prodaikov, a teacher of Ukrainian language and literature, has been named the best teacher in Ukraine for 2021. 

On October 2, the winner of the Global Teacher Prize Ukraine award was announced in Kyiv. The award ceremony took place at Sofiyivska Square. This year, the Frontline Teacher nomination was also awarded for the first time: the winner was Tamara Umanska, a teacher of foreign and Ukrainian literature from the city of Kremenna in Luhansk Oblast. 

Tamara Umanska
winner in the Frontline Teacher nomination

This is the first such nomination. My dearest dream is for it to be the last. For us never to have teachers in a frontline zone, and simply to be teachers of Ukraine. 

The award was presented to the teacher by writer Serhiy Zhadan: "Teachers in Donetsk and Luhansk regions hold no less important a line of defense." 

What is known about the winner

Artur Prodaikov was named the best teacher of 2021. He was born in Luhansk Oblast in a Russian-speaking family, and now in Kyiv he teaches children the Ukrainian language using memes, TikTok and songs by Scriabin. 

Under his mentorship, schoolchildren score 190+ points on the external independent exam (VNO), and after just the first year at university they find jobs and fall in love with contemporary Ukrainian literature. 

The teacher dreams of building a cultural bridge between people from western and eastern Ukraine through travel. Prodaikov believes that by erasing barriers between Ukrainians it will be easier to resist the information war. 

"I am sure that it is teachers who will influence the changes in our state that will be qualitative and positive," said the best teacher in the country, who won among 3,000 candidates from all regions. 

What this award is and who made the top 10

The Global Teacher Prize, the so-called "Nobel" prize for teachers, is worth $1 million. It was founded in 2015 by Arab billionaire Sunny Varkey. In 2017, the public community Osvitoria founded the national Global Teacher Prize Ukraine award. 

The winner receives 300,000 hryvnias, a trip to the largest education event, the Global Education and Skills Forum, as well as professional development and support for implementing educational projects from the award organizer. 

In 2021, the finalists of the award were:

1. Oksana Yerokhina (Kherson)
2. Anna But (Melitopol)
3. Pavel Viktor (Odesa)
4. Valentina Hatalska (Kyiv)
5. Gleb Repich (Kyiv)
6. Yulia Dolzhanska (Kharkiv)
7. Bohdan Zavydovskyi (Dnipro)
8. Lydia Nasonova (Kharkiv)
9. Artur Prodaikov (Kyiv)
10. Oksana Khomych (Kyiv)

This year's best teacher was chosen from thousands of teachers in Ukraine. Applications to take part in the competition are submitted not only by teachers but also by their students. First, the top 50 semifinalists were selected, after which specialized educational organizations voted for the top 10 finalists. The jury of the award then chose the winner. 

The first winner of the award in 2017 was Paul Pshenychka, a physics and astronomy teacher from Chernivtsi. He is an Honored Teacher of Ukraine and an honorary member of the London Institute of Physics. 

Pshenychka was the first teacher to speak in the Verkhovna Rada, and also the first teacher to enter the top 100 most influential people in Ukraine. 

In 2018, the winner was Oleksandr Zhuk, a computer science teacher from Zaporizhzhia; in 2019, Natalia Kidalova, a teacher of English, Ukrainian language and literature from Melitopol; and in 2020, Vasyl Dyakiv from Zalishchyky.