Attention K-12 educators, and the people who love them: Check out this program to recognize innovations in instruction related to science, technology, engineering or math, aka STEM.

The Sally Ride-Deloitte Award for Teaching Innovation in STEM is judged on uniqueness, creativity, usability, practicality and other criteria, and offers a first-place prize of $5,000 cash to an educational institution chosen by the winning educator.

Two second-place prizes of $2,500 each and five third-place prizes of $1,000 each will also be awarded to institutions designated by the winners.

The first- and second-place finishers will also be awarded Sally Ride Site Licenses for a school of their choosing, which will deliver eBooks to all students, professional development to all educators, and teacher activity guides that help educators support Common Core, NGSS and other educational standards while teaching STEM topics.

Sally Ride Science was co-founded in 2001 by Dr. Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, to help educators spark and sustain student interest in STEM topics and careers.

Judges for this award are Ira Flatow, NPR science correspondent; René McCormick, executive director of Science Programs at the National Math and Science Initiative; Dr. Sandra Magnus, former NASA astronaut and executive director at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics; Petula Whitfield, Sally Ride Science Academy faculty member; and Sheryl Sotelo, recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Teaching and the National Science Teachers Association Shell Oil Science Teacher Award.

All entries for the Sally Ride-Deloitte Award for Teaching Innovation in STEM must be submitted through the Sally Ride STEM Central website, at stemcentral.com. The submission deadline is Oct. 31.

See official contest rules at
sallyridescience.com/content/innovation-award-official-rules.