This award acknowledges sustained excellence and creativity in the college classroom. Nominations from current and former students are especially welcome. Nominees for this award should meet the following criteria: (1) Exceptional commitment to effective geography teaching; (2) Record of efforts to help diffuse excellent geography teaching beyond one’s immediate classroom (teaching-related publications, workshops, web sites, textbooks, etc.); (3) Recognition of teaching excellence by department, school, or other organizations; (4) Support of teaching excellence via student evaluations or comments.
The following distinguished Geography faculty have been awarded the Excellence in Teaching Award since 2008
| Year | Recipient | Institution |
| 2008 | Margaret “Peggy” Gripshover | University of Tennessee |
| 2009 | Douglas W. Gamble | University of North Carolina, Wilmington |
| 2010 | Jennifer Collins | University of South Florida |
| 2011 | Eric Fournier | Samford University |
| 2012 | Sharon C. Cobb | University of North Florida |
| 2013 | Dawn Bowen | Mary Washington University |
| Thomas Chapman | Old Dominion University | |
| Ron Kalafsky | University of Tennessee | |
| 2014 | Jerry Mitchell | University of South Carolina |
| 2015 | Michael Pretes | University of North Alabama |
| 2016 | John Knox | University of Georgia |
| 2017 | Mark Miller | University of Southern Mississippi |
| 2018 | Lynn Phillips | Univesity of Kentucky |
| 2019 | Corene Matyas | University of Florida |
| 2020 | Robert Oliver | Virginia Tech |