Oakville Elementary School music teacher Karen Dickinson recently received the Missouri South Arts Council’s 2008-2009 Fine Arts Teacher of the Year Award.

The MSAC selected Dickinson, who was nominated by Oakville Elementary Principal Amanda Lewis, after reviewing nominations for candidates from the seven school districts the organization serves.

“I didn’t know Amanda had nominated me, but I felt really honored when I found out I had won the award,” Dickinson stated in a district news release. “With Amanda retiring at the end of this year, I was really touched that she thought to nominate me.”

The non-profit council serves the Affton, Bayless, Hancock, Lindbergh, Maplewood-Richmond Heights, Mehlville and Webster Groves school districts by offering a variety of arts programming, including a Scott Joplin piano competition, Festival of the Arts, grants for local artists, visual and performing arts classes for youth and the annual Fine Arts Teacher of the Year Award.

Nominees were judged based on several criteria. Nomination forms, which included an essay, professional resume and letters of recommendation, were accepted only for full-time teachers of the arts employed by a public or private school within the districts served by the council. Nominees are required to have completed three full years of teaching in theater, music, visual arts or dance, and must display outstanding teaching abilities.

“Karen has a remarkable ability to motivate each student to want to learn and be successful,” Lewis stated. “She creates in her music class a place of warmth and trust where each student is valued and respected as an individual while teaching character education as an integrated element in all of her classes. She provides students with many opportunities to display their musical talents through outstanding music programs at Oakville Elementary School.”