Awards and Recognition

Pillar and Passion

Pillar and Passion Awards

ATLE recognizes excellence in its pillars of learning, technology, and leadership through its annual Pillar and Passion Awards, awarded annually at the ATLE Convergence Conference in the Fall.

Scroll down this page to read more about the awards and this year's recipients!

ATLE Pillar Award

In 2011, the ATLE Board created the Pillar Award to recognize and celebrate outstanding contribution to technology in K-12 in Alberta. Recipients of the Pillar Award have been involved in learning, technology, and leadership for many years, and are considered friends, pioneers, making a difference - yes, essentially "pillars" involved in technology in Alberta.

Pillar Award recipients are those people we all look up to, care about, and recognize as those who have helped many others, improving the "technology in education" community in Alberta along the way.

Sometimes this person is one whose outstanding career is being recognized. Sometimes this person is one who has helped in a very specific way, that impacts a majority of students. We have recognized people from government ministries, and people from our local school jurisdictions.

The ATLE Board does not lightly nominate folks, and the Pillar Award is not presented every year.

This award is the highest honor and distinction that the Alberta Technology Leaders in Education organization recognizes. We will continue to recognize and celebrate ATLE Pillar Award recipients, both present and past.

ATLE Passion Award

The ATLE Passion Award honors outstanding educators and leaders who demonstrate extraordinary commitment, leadership, courage and persistence in improving digital learning opportunities for students.

ATLE Pillar and Passion Awards Hall of Fame

ATLE is a great example of an organization that "stands on the shoulders of giants". The individuals we have celebrated as award recipients over the years are testament to the sturdy roots of excellence in IT, ET, and Leadership that have shaped the evolution of the ATLE we all connect with today.

We've been scanning our ATLE archives to gather our lists below. If you notice any revisions needed in the list below, please Contact Us with any missing information! Thank you!

  Pillar Award Recipients
2011 Erwin Loewen
2012 John Percevault and Gary Spence
2013 Lyle Roberts and Edna Dach
2015 Todd Kennedy and James Aitchison
2017 Michael Barr and Jeff Murray
2019 Brian Wynder and David Lorenson
2020 Dan Durand
2022 Ken Robitaille
2023 Daylene Lauman
2024 Jesse Sadlowski

 

  Passion Award Recipients
2020 Michael Nielsen and Brian Archinuk
2022 Nicole Lakusta
2023 Memorese Walter
2024 Melody Nelson

Last, but certainly noteworthy, at Convergence 2021, a one-time Service Award was presented to then Executive Director Doug Dietz, in recognition for his many years of dedication and service to ATLE. Doug, as Executive Director, was instrumental in leading ATLE from a fledgling organization to a place where he could hand it off to a Team who can move it forward into its next future-ready rendition! 

Annual Grant Opportunity!

ProLearn Research and Innovation Grants

ProLearn Research and Innovation Grants, awarded in the Spring by the ProLearn Team, recognizes those applicants who invest in research and innovation within their educational communities.

Applications for ProLearn Research and Innovation Grants will be received from January 1 - February 15. Subscribe to our newsletter (bottom of this page) to be in the know as soon as the revised 2025 application form is posted. Read more about ProLearn grants on the ProLearn Research and Innovation Grants page.

Pillar and Passion Awards - Looking forward

As we look forward to next year, we encourage you to help us celebrate excellence in IT/ET/Leadership across Alberta by nominating an ATLE member colleague for the Pillar or the Passion Award. We will open nominations once again in September, 2025.

When considering who to nominate, consider the following:

Your nomination should include

  1. Nominee’s Name
  2. Job Role(s)
  3. Division or School
  4. a thorough description of how and why you believe this person should receive this distinction.
    • NEW for 2025: A list of criteria will be shared in advance to help you sift through the qualities and contributions of the great people you work with to see who best meets the standards of these awards!

Nominations will be accepted by email to our ProLearn team at ProLearn@atle.ca by end of day on the first Friday in October, 2025. We look forward to celebrating exemplary leadership with you!

"We rise by lifting others." ~ Robert Ingersoll