Global Teacher Prize Ukraine: winner of 2025 national award for educators announced
Ruslan Shalamov, a biology and ecology teacher from Kharkiv, has been named the winner of the 2025 Global Teacher Prize Ukraine, the country’s annual national award for educators.
According to Ukrinform, the announcement was made by the Office of the President of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s First Lady, Olena Zelenska, took part in the award ceremony for the Global Teacher Prize Ukraine 2025. The event is organized annually by the NGO Osvitoria to mark Education Workers’ Day.
Shalamov, recognized as this year’s best teacher, received a UAH 1 million grant to realize his educational dream project.
During the ceremony, the President’s wife also announced the winner of the Ukrainians’ Choice category.
For the second year in a row, Ukrainians themselves voted for the teacher whose story and approach inspired them most. This year, over 10,000 people participated in the poll on the Diia.Osvita platform, with 2,263 votes going to Yurii Pakhomov, a chemistry teacher from Ivano-Frankivsk.
Pakhomov’s lessons bring science to life — from AR experiments to projects that raise hundreds of thousands of hryvnias for Ukrainian soldiers. As a prize, he received an educational trip.
“Yurii Pakhomov believes that if a teacher can answer a child’s question during class – even if it’s not related to the subject – the lesson was not in vain. Because the teacher helped the child. And that is the teacher’s mission – to help,” the First Lady emphasized.
Other category winners were also announced:
- Preschool Education – Khrystyna Mykuliak, preschool teacher from Ivano-Frankivsk;
- Mathematics Teacher – Lesia Maksymko, algebra, geometry, and computer science teacher from Ivano-Frankivsk region;
- Chemistry Teacher – Yevhenii Atamasenko, Kyiv region;
- Choice by Heart – Maksym Romanov, geography teacher from Kharkiv region;
- Computer Science Teacher – Nataliia Perekhrest, computer science and English teacher from Ternopil;
- Innovative Teacher – Volodymyr Babenko, computer science teacher from Poltava region;
- Inclusion – Olha Bilanova, teacher of Ukrainian Sign Language, law, and history from Kryvyi Rih.
Additionally, three educators received special distinctions under the Talents for Ukraine grant program of the KSE Foundation: Yevhenii Atamasenko (Kyiv region), Kostiantyn Kravchuk (Khmelnytskyi), and Olha Pohribniak (Kyiv region).
“At different moments in our lives, we all say thank you to our teachers. But this event is a living expression of that gratitude – a place where a teacher finally walks their deserved red carpet, where they are celebrated like a star. Today, we all lack light. And when a child leaves school shining, coming home inspired, we, parents, understand that they were given not only knowledge, but also that light of hope, the faith in themselves and in life,” said Olena Zelenska.
As Ukrinform reported, the Global Teacher Prize Ukraine is an annual national award for educators who drive educational change, presented in Ukraine since 2017. It recognizes not only a teacher’s achievements with students but also their contribution to society.
Last year’s winner was Lesia Pavliuk from Ivano-Frankivsk.
Photo: Office of the President of Ukraine