Opus Prize

The Opus Prize is an international award for faith-based humanitarian aid given by the Opus Prize Foundation in the USA. Since 2004, one award winner has received US $ 1 million annually, and since 2005 two finalists have also received US $ 100,000 each.

The prize is intended to honor silent heroes of all faiths who, through a combination of entrepreneurial thinking and good faith, find solutions to major social problems such as poverty, illiteracy, hunger, disease and injustice .

The prize is awarded by the Opus Prize Foundation . It was founded as a non-profit and independent foundation in 1994 by the founder of Opus Corporation in the USA. The foundation selects universities as partners for the selection of the winners and finalists as well as the organization of the award ceremony. A publicly announced jury is appointed for each year.

Prize winners and finalists

• 2004:
  • Award winner: Richard Albert , Helping Hands for the Poor , Inc., Jamaica

• 2005:
  • Awardees : Trevor Miranda , SJ, Reach Education Action Program (REAP), India
  • Finalist: Juliana Akinyi Otieno , Kenya
  • Finalist: William Wasson , Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos , Mexico

• 2006:
  • Prize winner: Zilda Arns , Pastoral da Criança, Brazil
  • Finalist: Ann Kendrick, Office for Farmworker Ministry, USA
  • Finalist: John Foley, Cristo Rey Network, USA

• 2007:
  • Prize winner: Stan Goetschalckx , AHADI International Institute, Tanzania
  • Finalist: John Adams, So Others Might Eat (SOME), USA
  • Finalist: Homeless People's Federation Philippines, Philippines

• 2008:
  • Prize winners: Marguerite "Maggy" Barankitse , Maison Shalom, Burundi
  • Finalist: Michael Woodard, Jubilee House Community & Center for the Development of Central America (CDCA), Nicaragua
  • Finalist: Krishnammal Jagannathan , Land for Tillers' Freedom (LAFTI), India

• 2009:
  • Prize winner: Aïcha Ech Channa , Association Solidarité Féminine , Morocco
  • Finalist: Valeriana García-Martín, Asociación Hogares Luz y Vida, Colombia
  • Finalist: Hans Stapel, Fazenda da Esperança , Brazil

Sources and references

• Opus Prize for Aicha Chenna , DLF Radio, day by day, 5th November 2009

Web links

Homepage of Opus Prize (Engl.)