Journalism adviser, Leland Mallett won the Max R. Haddick Teacher of the Year award for Texas Journalism, chosen by the UIL, on April 19 at the 88th annual ILPC award ceremony in Austin.

“I’ve watched the award ceremony for 15 years and saw great people win, and I thought that it’d be great if I won someday. But I never expected it,” Mr. Mallett said. “It makes it special to know there are so many talented journalism teachers in Texas, and I won the award.”

Balfour Yearbook Representative Tammy Bailey and Education Specialist Judi Coolidge coordinated the award nomination for Mallett. A panel of three judges, including ILPC/UIL Journalism Director Jeanne Acton, unanimously voted Mallett as Teacher of the Year.

“I’ve always known that he would get the award. I was just waiting for someone to nominate him,” Ms. Acton said. “It’s your colleagues who see something special and take the time to [nominate you], and he’s impacted a lot of people, so I knew it’d happen soon.”

Ms. Acton asked past teachers of the year to stand to receive recognition at the awards ceremony before she announced the 2015 winner. Ms. Acton then read a speech containing segments of the nomination applications sent in for Mr. Mallett.

“It’s a big deal because Texas has extremely incredible journalism teachers and knowing that you got selected over all these other teachers who could have gotten it makes it special,” past winner Rhonda Moore said. “He is so deserving. He has done so much for his own kids and the other teachers. He teaches at conventions, and I know he’ll be there to help anyone. He’s done a lot for Texas.”

Although Mr. Mallett did know he was nominated for the award he did not find out about winning until the day of the ceremony. However co-journalism teacher Rachel Dearinger worked with Acton and Bailey in secret to prepare a party in Austin. Mrs. Dearinger made T-shirts that featured a cartoon depiction of Mr. Mallett, surrounded by the phrase “Mallett’s Morons”, written in Comic Sans. She also invited a large group of 75 to attend the ceremony and party including Mallett’s friends, family, coworkers and past editors.

“This was a once in a lifetime opportunity for him that I didn’t want to go unnoticed,” Mrs. Dearinger said. “This is a huge honor. I think sometimes other people outside of our journalism world don’t know how big it is. Planning a celebration is the least I could do for someone who has done so much for everyone else.”

Originally, Mr. Mallett planned to attend a national journalism convention in Denver the same weekend of the Austin award ceremony. Mrs. Dearinger worked to convince him otherwise.

“What Dearinger and the students did for me means more to me than the award, but both are huge,” Mr. Mallett said. “I go through my day just being me, and what I do means a lot to people is humbling.”

Mr. Mallett has been teaching for 15 years, eight of those at Legacy High School. He received the TAJE Trailblazer award in 2013, the ILPC Edith Fox King award in 2010, Legacy High School Teacher of the Year award in 2010, and the Texas PTA Teacher of the Year finalist in 2014. Mr. Mallett advises The Arena Yearbook and the online newspaper, The Rider Online. His students’ publications have earned several state and national awards. The Arena yearbook has won Best of Show at the NSPA Journalism Convention, four CSPA Silver Crown awards, three ILPC Silver Star awards, two ILPC Bronze Star awards, and placed as a NSPA Pacemaker Finalist twice. The online newspaper won Best of Show for the 2014 NSPA Fall Journalism Convention, four NSPA Pacemakers, five CSPA Gold Crowns, and five ILPC Gold Stars.

“At the end of the day, it’s about the students and people I work with,” Mr. Mallett said. “They make me look good, and I can’t thank them enough.”