OUTSTANDING teachers from Dorset and Hampshire are among the finalists due to attend the 2009 Teaching Awards in Winchester next month.

The event will be hosted by BBC news presenter Sally Taylor and aims to reward unsung heroes of the profession.

They are being judged in 12 categories and each winner will receive a Plato – the Teaching Awards symbol of excellence.

There are three finalists in each category and Sam Pope from Ringwood School is among them in the Outstanding New Teacher of the Year section. Diana James from Twynham School in Christchurch is nominated for Special Needs Teacher of the Year and her colleague, Hilhne Tulodziecki, is included on the shortlist for Teacher of the Year in a Secondary School.

Ringwood School and Priestlands in Lymington are in the running for the DCSF Award for Sustainable Schools and Grahame Webb from The Emmanuel Middle School in Verwood is nominated for the Ted Wragg Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Nominees will travel to Winchester Guildhall on June 3 for the ceremony and for a siminar, led by Sir Alan Steer, the government’s expert on pupil behaviour and a former Teachers Award winner.