Key Takeaways
- Resources on this page fall into four buckets: nutrition education curricula, recognition award criteria, application templates, and team training materials.
- Most curricula are published by USDA Team Nutrition and are free to download.
- Key family-facing materials are available in Spanish, Traditional Chinese, and French.
- Award criteria documents are required reading before starting a Recognition Award application.
Nutrition Education Curricula
Classroom-ready programs that make it easier to pair healthy school meals with nutrition learning. These are USDA Team Nutrition materials that have been used in thousands of schools across the country.
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Discover MyPlate
Kindergarten-level nutrition education aligned with common state standards. Family handout available in Spanish.
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Serving Up MyPlate: A Yummy Curriculum
Elementary-grade lessons integrating math, reading, and science with nutrition. Family handout available in Spanish, Traditional Chinese, and French.
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Team Nutrition Cooks!
Ten standards-based lessons that teach cooking fundamentals alongside nutrition and food safety.
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Fueling My Healthy Life
Middle-school nutrition curriculum focused on how students build their own eating patterns through daily choices.
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How School Lunch is Made and How You Can Help
Family-facing explainer on how school meals are planned and prepared. Good for back-to-school nights.
Recognition Award Criteria & Guides
Each award category has a dedicated explainer page that walks through what the criteria measure, how thresholds apply, and what competitive applications look like. The official criteria PDF is linked on every page as the source of truth.
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All Recognition Awards Criteria: Complete Guide
Plain-English walkthrough of every award category, thresholds, and what competitive applications share. Links to the official PDF.
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Breakfast Trailblazer Award Criteria Explained
How added-sugar reduction is measured, what menu moves show up in winning applications, documentation patterns.
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Small & Rural Breakfast Trailblazer Criteria
Calibrated pathway for smaller programs. Who qualifies, what's different, how to document for a competitive application.
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Lunch Trailblazer Award Criteria Explained
Where school lunch sodium actually comes from, which operational moves reduce it, and what documentation matters.
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Cultural Diversity Innovation Award Criteria
What sustained cultural integration looks like beyond heritage months, and what evidence reviewers want.
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Nutrition Education Innovation Award Criteria
How the award rewards classroom content that translates into actual eating behavior, plus documentation patterns.
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Prep & Scratch Cooking Innovation Criteria
How scratch percentage is measured, what investments show up in winning applications, and how to sustain the shift.
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Recognition Awards FAQ
Common questions from applicants: eligibility, process, documentation, what happens after the award, and edge cases.
Application Forms & Official PDFs
Direct PDF downloads for documents you'll need when you actually submit. Each criteria guide above links back to its source PDF too; this section is for the forms and original documents alone.
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State Agency Support Letter (Fillable)
Template used by State Agencies to confirm eligibility and support an applicant's submission. Fillable form.
Grant & Sub-Grant Documents
Historical and reference documents for districts applying to or reporting under HMI grant programs. The sub-grant program's application windows are closed; these documents remain available for reference.
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Download
HMI Sub-Grant RFA (FY23)
Full Request for Applications document with eligibility, scoring rubric, and budget guidance for the small/rural sub-grant program.
Team Training & Development
USDA and Institute of Child Nutrition materials to build staff skills without paying for outside training. These are the resources recognized awardees point to most often when asked how their kitchens leveled up.
- Institute of Child Nutrition (ICN). Free online and in-person courses for school foodservice staff, from basic food safety to advanced scratch cooking techniques.
- Team Nutrition Recipe Resources. USDA-standardized recipes with CN labels, including standardized breakfast grain items and sodium-conscious lunch entrees.
- State Agency Technical Assistance. Your State Agency can connect you with peer districts that have already solved the problem you're working on.