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Nomination period is closed. Award recipient will be announced at the Bands of America Grand National Championship in November, 2012.

Developed by the National Association for Music Education and Music for All, the George N. Parks Leadership in Music Education Award is named for the late George Parks, director of the University of Massachusetts Minuteman Marching Band. Considered a national authority on drum majoring, Mr. Parks led the George N. Parks Drum Major Academy, including at the Music for All Summer Symposium.

The George N. Parks Award honors an exemplary music educator who embodies the characteristics and leadership that Mr. Parks showed his students every day.

The recipient must demonstrate:

- Collaborative spirit

- Dedication to knowing students as individuals

- Perseverance and enthusiasm

- Ability to instill qualities in students beyond achievement in music

NAfME and MFA will hold an open nomination period for the George N. Parks Award through September 15, 2012. Please send the following information to victoriac@nafme.org if you wish to nominate a candidate:

1. One page, typed, double spaced word document detailing why the band director should be a candidate for nomination.

2. First and Last name, email address, physical address and phone number for you and your nominee.

With members of the MFA board of directors, the NAfME Council for Band Education will select the recipient based on the criteria, and information submitted with nomination.

The recipient will be brought to Bands of America Grand National Championships in Indianapolis in November 2012 to accept the award on the field.  All nominees will be listed on this page following selection of the recipient.

About George N. Parks

(1953-2010) Mr. Parks began teaching drum majors at the West Chester University summer marching band workshops in 1973, and founded the Drum Major Academy® in 1977. Mr. Parks was Professor of Music at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst, and the director of the Minuteman Marching Band for 33 years. He was a recipient of the University’s Distinguished Teacher Award and the Chancellor’s Medal for Distinguished Service. He was named an Honorary Alumnus of the University of Massachusetts and inducted into the Massachusetts Instrumental Conductor’s Association Hall of Fame. Professor Parks conducted numerous district and regional bands in Massachusetts, Maine, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, as well as conducting the University Concert Band at UMass. Over the years his involvement with Bowl Games of America placed him at the helm of half–time productions for the National BCS Game, the Sugar, Orange, Carquest and Hall of Fame Bowl Games. In 2005 Professor Parks was Director of the Bands of America National Honor Band during their inaugural performance in the Tournament of Roses Parade. He returned as director in 2009 for the group’s second appearance. Professor Parks has been featured in various instructional videos teaching drum majoring, leadership skills, and mace techniques, and authored “The Dynamic Drum Major,” a text on the art of drum majoring. Mr. Parks was drum major of the West Chester University Golden Rams Marching Band, an 8 time recipient of the DCA World Championship Drum Major Award as drum major of the Reading Buccaneers Senior Drum and Bugle Corps and was inducted into the Drum Corps Associates Hall of Fame. The Drum Major Academy® is the nation’s foremost authority on the art of drum majoring, and the staff, all prominent music educators, brings over 35 years of teaching and performing experience, instructing over 3000 drum major and band leadership students each year.

About Music For All

Music for All’s mission is to create, provide and expand positively life-changing experiences through music for all.

We believe that music and arts education is a core to students’ education and must be available to all students. Music for All is an advocate for music and arts education. Our educational programs support the efforts of instrumental music teachers on the high school and middle school levels, as well as provide positively life-changing experiences for students.