Nominations are now open for the 2013 OfficeMax A Day Made Better programme: a national search for New Zealand’s most exceptional primary and intermediate school teachers.

Fifteen teachers from across the country will be selected from the nominations by their peers and then surprised and thanked for their efforts by the OfficeMax A Day Made Better team with $1000 worth of

OfficeMax arts and crafts, stationery and office supplies for their classroom.

OfficeMax New Zealand’s General Manager (Education), Dr Suzanne Flannagan, said that the programme really highlights the passion and  dedication of the nominated teachers.

“New Zealand has so many high calibre and devoted teachers, we wanted to celebrate their hard work and provide them the recognition they deserve,” Dr Flannagan said.

“With so many fabulous teachers in New Zealand we know the judges have a hard road ahead.  That said, we’d encourage staff at schools to nominate as many teachers from their school as they feel meet the criteria – that go above and beyond the call of duty in the classroom.

“We’d really love parents and students who reap the benefits of such amazing teachers to contact their local schools and let them know what a great job they do, and suggest they receive a nomination.

“The OfficeMax A Day Made Better team is really looking forward to surprising the teachers, given the heart warming feedback we received from events in previous years,” she said. 

Spending money out of their own pockets is unfortunately becoming increasingly common for teachers to ensure their pupils are receiving the best possible education, such as  supplying materials for the classroom.

A Day Made Better is a global programme run by OfficeMax that began in the US in 2007.  It has garnered the support of high profile celebrities including Dwayne Johnson, The Jonas Brothers and Selena Gomez. 

In the past two years, New Zealand has really made the programme its own, and has grown the programme from the eight surprises it delivered when it first started, to 15 that it will deliver in November.

Nominations close on 30th August 2013, and recipients will be thanked with a surprise celebration in November 2013.  Winners will be selected by an esteemed judging panel which includes members from the New Zealand Principal’s Federation.