As of the 2016 announcement of the GRAMMY Music Educator Award, Phillip Riggs was a music instructor at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (NCSSM) in Durham, where Riggs had taught since 2008. Riggs was chosen from more than 4,500 nominations. NCSSM's announcement says Riggs is a past president of the North Carolina Band Directors Association and coordinated the NAfME National Wind Ensemble at the Kennedy Center.