Second-grade Waverly Elementary school student Eva Blaum, of Glenburn Township, is shown with ‘The World’s Best Teacher,’ a phrase she used to describe Joseph Dougherty. She nominated Dougherty in the Scholastic Reading Club’s Teacher Appreciation Sweepstakes and her entry was among 100 chosen from more than 30,000 nominations across the United States.

GLENBURN TWP. — Waverly Elementary School second-grade student Eva Blaum thinks Joseph Dougherty is the world’s best teacher.

Blaum nominated Dougherty in the Scholastic Reading Club’s Teacher Appreciation Sweepstakes, a contest she entered through Scholastic Reading Club in honor of Teacher Appreciation Day celebrated in May. Her entry was among 100 chosen at random from more than 30,000 nominations across the United States.

The sweepstakes contest, also sponsored by 1-800-Flowers.com, featured a special prize of chocolate-covered strawberries for the lucky recipient.

Bill Blaum, Eva’s father, helped his daughter by typing and submitting the winning entry via email.

“My dad told me about the contest,” said Eva. “If you won, you’d get a treat, like chocolate-covered strawberries, like Mr. Dougherty did.”

Her entry read, “My child is in his second grade class. Her name is Eva and she says: ‘He gives us ice cream. He is very nice. He reads very cool stories to us. He likes us to do really good projects. He likes us to tell stories. He likes us to make cards. When you do something really good he gives you a pencil. If you get three golden tickets he gives you an eraser. He explains stuff the right way and makes stuff really fun. We get to present our stuff to the class. He is a really good teacher…’”

Eva’s father told her the good news about her win. She explained, “My dad said, ‘Eva, Mr. Dougherty won your Teacher Appreciation Day thing.’ I told Mr. Dougherty.”

Dougherty began teaching at Waverly Elementary in 2007 and is thrilled Eva thought of him and took the time to enter the contest.

“I’m thrilled,” said Dougherty. “First of all, that an 8-year-old kid took the time to sit down and think of these things. She’s a very good writer. Eva is always thoughtful, kind and considerate and I wouldn’t put it past her to take the time to write a nice letter about someone.”

Dougherty received his prizes in a box containing the chocolate-covered strawberries and cards from Scholastic during Teacher Appreciation Week, which began May 3.

“They (the strawberries) didn’t last too long,” he said.