Global Teacher Prize Ukraine named the best teacher of Ukraine for the tenth time

Since 2017, the Global Teacher Prize Ukraine has been introducing the country to teachers who are changing the education and life of their students, and during a full-scale war, they remain a support for children. On October 3, on the eve of Teacher's Day, the National Opera of Ukraine in Kyiv held a jubilee awarding ceremony for the country's best teachers.

This year's Global Teacher Prize Ukraine 2026 award ceremony was hosted by Nelya Shovkoplyas, host of the «Breakfast with 1+1» project on 1+1 Ukraine, and Timur Miroshnychenko. 1+1 media is traditionally the general media partner of the award.

Svitlana Merkulova, an English teacher from Irpen, became the winner of the anniversary Global Teacher Prize Ukraine, which is being organized for the tenth time by the public union «Osvitoria». Among its graduates are — 200-point players and prize-winners of regional Olympiads. But the main thing in her work, the teacher admits, she sees in the fact that English has become for her students not just a subject, but a way to talk about the future: even in shelter, to debate about the important, plan trips and dream. Svitlana also teaches colleagues tools for emotional support of children. The best teacher in the country received a reward of 1 million hryvnias.

«Today, being a teacher is not just about teaching your subject well. To be a teacher today — is to keep the light when there is complete darkness around, it is to be that reliable adult who will help the child feel the ground under his feet, return faith in his own strength. And standing here I will repeat: this Award — is about you, it is a victory for every Ukrainian teacher: who enters the classroom every day, who goes out online, who works in storage to the sounds of alarms, to the bursts of shells. We have to keep our resilience. We enter the classroom not only to teach children, we heal their souls. The mental health, emotional resilience and sense of dignity of our children are more important today than any ratings», — said Svitlana Merkulova from the stage.

Over ten years, the Global Teacher Prize Ukraine has collected almost 30,000 questionnaires, nominations and teacher stories. In the anniversary season of 2026, the public union «Osvitoria», the organizer of the award, received 1,169 questionnaires and 1,723 nominations from Ukrainians. The PwC company in Ukraine acted as an independent consultant for checking the transparency and correctness of the process of determining the winner of the Global Teacher Prize Ukraine.

«When we created the award, we had an ambition: to return the weight it deserves to the teaching profession, and for society to look at the teacher differently. And it happened. From Forbes ratings to The Times and BBC columns, from the rostrum of the Verkhovna Rada to the UN General Assembly Hall —, the voice of a Ukrainian teacher can be heard all over the world. Over the years of the award, the share of Ukrainians who believe that the teaching profession is highly valued in society has doubled, 94% of Ukrainians call it important, and today parents are three times more likely to recommend that children choose teaching as a career. For me, this number — is the most important, because it is about who will come to Ukrainian schools tomorrow, and about the fact that it is “tomorrow” will definitely come», — said Zoya Lytvyn, head of the Education and founder of the Global Teacher Prize Ukraine.

Heart choice and other nominations: who else was awarded the Global Teacher Prize Ukraine 2026

This year, Tetyana Hlebova, a teacher of Ukrainian language and literature from Mariupol, received three special awards at once — «Heart choice» from TSN host and interviewer Nataliya Moseychuk, «Integrity teacher» from the European Union Anti-Corruption Initiative in Ukraine (EUACI) and «Inclusivity» from Uklon. In March 2022, she left the besieged Mariupol on foot with her son. Today, Tatyana teaches in the morning at the Zaporizhia Lyceum, and in the afternoon — at the Mariupol School online.

Nataliya Moseychuk, host of TSN, interviewer and curator of the award, honored Tetyana Glebova with the award «Choice of Heart», for her humanity and dedication, presenting a monetary reward. Tatyana received a prize of 200,000 hryvnias from 1+1 media and Kyivstar TV for the realization of her educational dream.

Oleksandr Chuchaev, a history teacher from Kirovohrad Oblast, who currently serves in the Defense Forces of Ukraine as the commander of the company of unmanned aviation complexes "Pryvid" of the 41st separate mechanized brigade, received a special award «Teacher-Defender» for teachers with military service experience. The winner of the nomination will receive a monetary reward in the amount of 500,000 hryvnias.

The award was presented by Denys Shmyhal, First Deputy Prime Minister-Minister of Energy of Ukraine and ideologist of the nomination «Teacher-defender»:

«This anniversary year, the Global Teacher Prize Ukraine has a new special dimension. After all, we returned the opportunity to apply for this nomination to our teachers who defended Ukraine since 2014! Almost 300 questionnaires and applications for the — questionnaire were submitted for nomination, that is, acquaintances, even brothers and brigades submitted their teachers who serve with them for nomination. To assume this dual responsibility and honorably perform its duty — true heroism. And I thank everyone for this, and everyone, and each of our heroes! To our teachers-defenders! Ukraine is very lucky that today such people are part of our great struggle for freedom».

«Preschool» — Vera Berezhok, teacher of DNZ №21 in Vinnytsia. The winner received 500,000 hryvnias from UNICEF to realize her educational dream. The award was presented by Shamiz Abdullah, acting. Heads of the UNICEF Representative Office in Ukraine and Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine Andriy Butenko.

«Selection of Ukrainians» — Davyd Kuzmych, technology and informatics teacher from Boryslav, Lviv region. For the third time, the winner of this award was chosen by the entire country among ten finalists on the Diya.Education platform: [NUMBER of] Ukrainians out of [NUMBER] voted for him. The teacher received an educational trip from the Kyivstar company.

«Mathematics teacher» — Yulia Zubareva from Zaporizhzhia. The winner received 500,000 hryvnias from the nomination partner SoftServe, and the award was presented by its co-founder and member of the Board of Directors Taras Kytsmey.

«Chemistry teacher» — Olena Trubchanina, chemistry teacher from Pokrovsk, Donetsk region. received half a million hryvnias from the nomination partner of Biopharma. 

Serhiy Bychenko, a teacher of financial literacy and technologies from Kharkiv, received the award «Teacher of financial education». The winner will go on an educational journey from the Kredobank Foundation.

Yulia Zubareva, Daniil Doroshenko and Roman Chernov received special Talents for Ukraine awards from the KSE Foundation in the STEM category. Each of them will receive $5,000 for their own development.

Jamala, LAUD, Yarmak and the band ANTYTILA sang for the guests of the ceremony, and the name of the winner was lit with the help of a light show on the Motherland monument. Teachers became real stars on this day, because the images in which the finalists of the award appeared on the red carpet were created by the famous stylist Lina Khristoforova together with the Ukrainian brands Umahanova, The coat, Jamemme, Bobkova, Amelina Atelier, Indposhiv and Mazini. 

The Global Teacher Prize Ukraine 2026 ceremony can be seen on October 4 at 5:00 p.m. on the air of the national telethon «Unified News», and on the Kyivstar TV film and television platform.

The Global Teacher Prize Ukraine for teachers is organized by the Observatory with the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, the national educational platform of current knowledge and skills Diya.Education, UNICEF, the Anti-Corruption Initiative of the European Union in Ukraine (EUACI), the IT company SoftServe, the pharmaceutical company Biopharma, the Kredobank Foundation, KSE Foundation and Talents for Ukraine, the company Uklon, the Foundation for Educational Initiatives and the company EdPro. 1+1 media is the general media partner, and the film and television platform Kyivstar TV, Public Broadcasting, Ukrainian Pravda, hromadske, media network «Recovery window», media of positive news and stories SHOTAM, media «Lachen writes», ProKyiv, ProDnipro, Cultural forces of Ukraine — association of cultural figures supporting the Defense Forces of Ukraine, Jetsetter, Ukrainian Fashion Publishing and information partners Sensy Buro and Teenergizer provide informational support. PwC in Ukraine is an independent consultant for checking the transparency and correctness of the process of selecting the Global Teacher Prize Ukraine.