The U.S. Play Coalition is proud of its annual awards program, recognizing outstanding play research, distinguished service to the play movement and, formerly, youth practitioners. First awarded at the 2017 Conference on the Value of Play, our awards program honors exceptional individuals each year.
Play Research, Distinguished Service and Youth Practitioner Awards
Joe L. Frost Award for Distinguished Research
The Joe L. Frost Award for Distinguished Research is given annually in recognition of a body of exceptional research that has enhanced and expanded the study of play.
Dr. Joe L. Frost, Ed.D, L.H.D., was one of America’s leading experts on play and playgrounds and has a global reputation as the contemporary father of play advocacy. He is the Parker Centennial Professor Emeritus at The University of Texas at Austin with a passion for children’s play and play spaces.
Frost was influential in the creation of the U.S. Play Coalition, serving as a steering committee member since the coalition’s beginning in 2009. He served as moderator that year at the coalition’s first conference – then called the Summit on the Value of Play –and has been an honorary chair for each successive play conference.
Previous Joe L. Frost Award for Distinguished Research Recipients:
2026 –Peter Gray, PhD, Research professor of psychology and neuroscience at Boston College. Co-founder of the nonprofit Let Grow. Author of several texts, including psychology textbooks and Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life. Dr. Gray's work centers on behavioral biology, developmental psychology, anthropology, and education.
2025 – Debbie Rhea, PhD, Project Creator & Director at Liink Center for Healthy Play. Professor of Kinesiology and Associate Dean of Research and Health Sciences at Texas Christian University. Dr. Rhea’s work centers play-based learning and examines whole child development through the addition of daily unstructured, outdoor play breaks in schools.
2024 – Mariana Brussoni, PhD, Director of the Human Early Learning Partnership, and a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics and the School of Population & Public Health at the University of British Columbia (UBC). She is a developmental psychologist and an investigator with the British Columbia Children’s Hospital Research Institute & British Columbia Injury Research & Prevention Unit.
2022 – Debora Wisneski, PhD, Professor and John T. Langan Community Chair in Early Childhood Education in the Teacher Education Department at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. She is also past president of The Association for the Study of Play (TASP).
2021 – Robin C. Moore, Director, Natural Learning Initiative, NC State University, an urban designer and design researcher, specializing in child and family urban environments that support healthy human development, informal play, and non-formal education.
2020 – Stuart Brown, M.D., founder and president of the National Institute for Play and nationally renowned author, consultant and play expert. Dr. Brown’s book: Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul has been translated into twelve languages.
2019 – Lynn A. Barnett, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Recreation, Sport & Tourism at the University of Illinois and Fellow in the Academy of Leisure Sciences.
2018 – Olga Jarrett, Ph.D., Professor Emerita of early childhood/science education at Georgia State University, evaluator of an NSF project in Belize, and a past president of The Association for the Study of Play and the American Association for the Child’s Right to Play.
2017 – The inaugural Joe L. Frost Award for Distinguished Research was presented to its namesake – Joe L. Frost, Ed.D., the contemporary father of play advocacy.
Stephanie P. Garst Distinguished Service Award
The annual Stephanie P. Garst Distinguished Service Award is presented to an individual(s) who exemplifies continued and significant contributions to the play movement over years of service and who continue to champion the power and importance of play in our society.
The Stephanie P. Garst Distinguished Service Award reflects the incredible decade of leadership Stephanie provided to the U.S Play Coalition through the annual Conference on the Value of Play; Health & PLAY Institute; and Libraries, Learning & PLAY Forum as well as many play trainings, research, publications and related activities during her tenure as executive director of the U.S. Play Coalition.
This work, to those who know Stephanie, was based on what seemed to be her unlimited energy, boundless creativity, and commitment to play. The service and leadership she provided was essentially what made the U.S. Play Coalition and the Play Conference successful.
Previous Stephanie P. Garst Distinguished Service Award Recipients:
2026 – Daniel Hatcher, national speaker, facilitatior, and Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships at Healthier Generation.
2025 – Darry Edwards, movement coach, author, founder of the Primal Play Method®, and longtime (enthusiastic!) contributor to the US Play Coalition community.
2024 – The inaugural Stephanie P. Garst was presented to its namesake – Stephanie P. Garst, executive director of the U.S. Play Coalition (2014-2024).
CULI Youth Development Practitioner Award*
For several years while headquartered at Clemson University (2017-2022), the U.S. Play Coalition teamed up with Clemson University’s Learning Institute (CULI) to present the Youth Development Practitioner Award. The award recognized outstanding performance in the creation and implementation of youth development programs or services.
*This award is no longer an active part of the U.S. Play Coalition's award lineup.
Previous CULI Youth Development Practitioner Award Recipients:
2022 – Doug Smith – Adapted Physical Education Consulting Teacher in Charlotte-Mecklenburg (NC) Schools’ Programs for Exceptional Children & a founding member of the new Partners for PLAY initiative pilot program in Charlotte, NC.
2021 – Joyce Hemphill, PhD – play advocate, play consultant and retired professor of child development at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is co-author of The Power of Playful Learning.
2020 – Jessica Hentoff, is artistic/executive director of Circus Harmony, a St. Louis based non-profit that uses circus arts to motivate social change. It is both an arts education and a youth development organization.
2019 –Flo Brett, founder of the Effective Leadership Academy (Warrensville Heights, OH). The Academy and its 135 partners (and counting) has helped more than 20,000 students learn “real world” skills they need to be successful after they graduate.
2018 – Pat “The Play Lady” Rumbaugh, is co-founder of Let’s Play America. She founded the organization TakomaPlays! in Takoma Park, Maryland, in March 2009. TakomaPlays! is now part of Let’s Play America.
2017 – Dan Mathews, chief operating officer at Camp Twin Lakes, a Georgia-based organization that provides camp experiences for children with serious illnesses, disabilities and other life challenges. According to his nomination, Dan is “a champion for all youth using play as the center of his outstanding leadership and tireless efforts in furthering development, access, and professionalism of the field of youth-development.”
