Set of male professional busy janitor taking out the trash, pulling yellow plastic cart with cleaning tools, young and happy, wearing blue overall, protective gloves, isolated on white background A

Tennant Company announced the launch of the second annual Custodians Are Key program, an eight-month recognition campaign that rewards the work K-12 custodians are doing in schools around the country and honors them and their school with a $15,000 prize package.

The program launches as students, educators and support staff face various classroom scenarios at a time when school cleanliness has never been more critical. The campaign concludes on May 14, 2021.

Tennant invites school administrators, teachers, and parents to nominate their custodians between now and Nov. 15. A dozen finalists will be chosen from the field of nominees. each of which receive a $500 gift card. Tennant will select a grand prize winner from the finalist pool. The winner receives a prize valued at $5,000 while his or her school receives $10,000. Kris Kantor, custodian at Hayes Elementary in Lakewood, Ohio, was awarded the grand prize this past June. Kantor was one of 2,000 nominees during the inaugural program.

"We were overwhelmed by the positive response to our first Custodians Are Key campaign. The quality of candidates was amazing – clearly many custodians are making huge differences in their schools," says Lisa Hrpcek, marketing manager at Tennant Company in a press release. "Now, with the additional challenges brought on by the pandemic, the need for clean facilities has never been more important. And that makes our custodians even more critical to the health of their schools and their students. We are excited to build off last year’s successful program to honor these valuable front-line workers."

To nominate, click here.