Global Teacher Prize Ukraine 2026 🌟

On October 3, Global Teacher Prize Ukraine held their 10th anniversary ceremony at the National Opera House in Kyiv. We would like to share some of the key results with you:

✅ The ceremony was broadcast on national television with great coverage. This year, we received around 3,000 nominations and unique stories of teachers from across Ukraine.

✅ We also have even more partners supporting the Prize this year. One of the highlights was a special “Integrity Teacher” nomination, sponsored by the European Union. The winner received a trip to Denmark to explore the country’s best educational practices.

✅ The TOP10 finalists had a series of meetings and roundtables with opinion leaders and decision-makers such as Nobel Prize winner Mrs Matviychuk, the Minister of Education, and the Prime Minister of Ukraine.

Our business partners also presented special awards to a chemistry teacher and a mathematics teacher of the year.

Sister Zeph, a former Global Teacher Prize winner, was part of our Judging Academy. Her visit to Ukraine was very inspiring and valuable for Ukrainian teachers. 

The winner this year is Svitlana Merkulova, an English language teacher from the city of Irpin. She is a very bright and dedicated person. Her students are proactive global citizens who achieve excellent results in English. But what makes Svitlana truly special is her focus on the mental health of students and teachers affected by conflicts.

Svitlana teaches educators across Ukraine and Poland how to take care of themselves and support their own mental well-being. She also actively advocates for decision-makers and policymakers to invest not only in teachers' professional development, but also in their mental health and well-being on a national level.