The 2013 Bammy Awards nomination period is now closed. Want to thank all of you who took time out of your hectic schedules to nominate those amazing people who are doing extraordinary work across the field of education. Special shout-out to Joe Mazza, Erin Klein and Lisa Nielsen, who took the time to nominate or vote for over 50 people collectively. Erin, Lisa and Joe exemplify the willingness to support and share with others that can be found among the most passionate, talented and committed educators we all know.

Another big shout-out to the 7,584 people who voted over the past 45 days, to all who posted on Twitter at #bammyawards, and to all who blogged and tweeted about the Bammy Awards on their web sites. Mega-thanks to Peter DeWitt for his piece in Edweek, Why Educators Should Pay Attention to the Bammy Awards and to Marilyn Rhymes for her amazingly transparent and compelling EdWeek piece, Am I Good Enough. Big ups to Rae Pica for the piece in the Huffington Post, Appreciate Teachers, Idolize Celebrities, Hmmm....

The list of those deserving thanks is long, but we are committed to practicing the "eloquence of brevity" so we'll close by thanking groups like PBS Learning Media, Responsive Classroom, GOJO/PURELL, Excelligence, Edutopia, and the rest of our wonderful supporters.

We'll be blogging about the process of selecting the honorees and the upcoming red-carpet event right here. So follow us on Twitter or Facebook so you can stay abreast of all the Bammy Awards news as it unfolds, working up to the Bammy Awards ceremony in Washington DC on September 21st.

Again, thank you all for helping to recognize and celebrate all that is right with American education.