The Heinz Awards are individual achievement honors given annually by the Heinz Family Foundation. The Heinz Awards each year recognize outstanding individuals for their innovative contributions in three areas: the Arts, the Economy and the Environment. The award was established in 1993 by Teresa Heinz, the chairwoman of the Heinz Family Foundation,[1] in honor of her late husband, U.S. Senator H. John Heinz III.[2][3][4][5][6] The Heinz Award is considered to be among the largest individual achievement prizes in the world.[7][8]

Quick Facts Awarded for, Sponsored by ...
Heinz Awards
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Awarded forInnovative contributions in:
  • Arts (visual)
  • Economy
  • Environment
Sponsored byHeinz Family Foundation
DateEstablished 1993 (1993)
Country United States
Reward(s)US$250,000
Websiteheinzawards.org
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Two recipients in each of the three categories receive an unrestricted prize of US$250,000 and a cast silver medallion.[9][10] In 2009 through 2011, the Awards instead did a Special Focus on the Environment, and widened the awards to 10 people, each winner receiving US$100,000 and a medallion.[11] The Heinz Award medallion displays the likeness of Senator Heinz and the words "Shared Ideals Realized" on its front side, which is a quote from the late Senator Heinz. On the medallion's reverse side the image of a globe being exchanged between two hands is displayed.[8][12]

Selection process

Criteria

As written by the Heinz Family Foundation, the candidates who are chosen must meet three standards:

First, nominees must exhibit the following personal characteristics: A passion for excellence that goes beyond intellectual curiosity; a concern for humanity rooted in a deep sensitivity for the well-being of others; and a broad vision which extends far beyond the particular and embraces something universal.

Second, work of the candidates for a Heinz Award must meet the following criteria: Be significant and not a "quick fix"; Have an enduring and meaningful impact; be creative and innovative; and be sufficiently tangible to serve as a model for replication elsewhere.

Third, candidates should be actively working in the field in which they are nominated so that this award will enhance their potential for future societal contribution.[13]

Selection

Members of an anonymous Council of Nominators are chosen for their expertise in the fields relevant to the award for which they will be nominating.[8] After the nominators have recommended the candidates, the nominations are forwarded to a jury consisting of noted experts in each of the three categories. The jury then chooses the final recipients and sends these to the program's Board for final approval.[14]

The Chairman's Medal

In certain years, the Heinz Awards Board has also chosen to honor the lifetime achievement of a particular individual. The award is a non-monetary prize, and the honoree is presented with the Awards' medallion at the same ceremony as the other laureates.

Special Focus on the Environment

In 2009, in honor of the awards' 15th anniversary, an award for special focus on the environment was created in lieu of the traditional five awards. A larger group of 10 individuals were awarded US$100,000 each, honoring those working in innovative ways to address the environment through the lens of the existing five categories.[11][15]

Similarly, in 2010 and 2011 the Special Focus was continued, and in both years 10 individuals were again each awarded US$100,000 each.[16] In 2012, the Awards returned to the core five categories.[17]

Recipients

More information Recipients of The Heinz Awards ...
Recipients of The Heinz Awards[18]
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More information 1st Heinz Awards – 1995, Category ...
1st Heinz Awards – 1995
Category Recipient
Arts and Humanities Henry Hampton[19]
Environment Paul and Anne Ehrlich[20]
Human Condition Geoffrey Canada[19]
Public Policy James Goodby[21]
Technology, the Economy and Employment Andrew Grove[19]
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More information 2nd Heinz Awards – 1996, Category ...
2nd Heinz Awards – 1996
Category Recipient
Arts and Humanities Beverly Sills[22]
Environment Herbert Needleman[23]
Human Condition Marian Wright Edelman
Public Policy C. Everett Koop
Technology, the Economy and Employment William J. Rutter
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More information 3rd Heinz Awards – 1997, Category ...
3rd Heinz Awards – 1997
Category Recipient
Arts and Humanities Rita Dove[24]
Environment George Woodwell
Human Condition James Comer
Public Policy Ralph Cavanagh
Technology, the Economy and Employment George Hatsopoulos
The Chairman's Medal William R. Hewlett and David Packard
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More information 4th Heinz Awards – 1998, Category ...
4th Heinz Awards – 1998
Category Recipient
Arts and Humanities John Harbison
Environment Amory Lovins
Human Condition Carol Gilligan
Public Policy Ernesto Cortes
Technology, the Economy and Employment Ralph E. Gomory
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More information 5th Heinz Awards – 1999, Category ...
5th Heinz Awards – 1999
Category Recipient
Arts and Humanities Walter Turnbull
Environment Florence Robinson and Lois Gibbs[25]
Human Condition Luis Acosta and Frances Lucerna
Public Policy Daniel Patrick Moynihan[26]
Technology, the Economy and Employment Dean Kamen[8]
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More information 6th Heinz Awards – 2000, Category ...
6th Heinz Awards – 2000
Category Recipient
Arts and Humanities Peter Matthiessen[27]
Environment Paul Gorman
Human Condition Robert P. Moses
Public Policy Edward Zigler[6]
Technology, the Economy and Employment Mary Good
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More information 7th Heinz Awards – 2001, Category ...
7th Heinz Awards – 2001
Category Recipient
Arts and Humanities Jacques d'Amboise (co-awardee)[28]
Arts and Humanities Arthur Mitchell (co-awardee)
Environment James Hansen[3]
Human Condition Aaron Beck
Public Policy John Holdren
Technology, the Economy and Employment Steve Wozniak[29]
The Chairman's Medal Dorothy Height[30] and Russell Train
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More information 8th Heinz Awards – 2002, Category ...
8th Heinz Awards – 2002
Category Recipient
Arts and Humanities Dudley Cocke (co-awardee)
Arts and Humanities Rick Lowe (co-awardee)
Environment Jane Lubchenco[31]
Human Condition Cushing Dolbeare
Public Policy George Lee Butler
Technology, the Economy and Employment Anita Borg[32]
The Chairman's Medal Ruth Patrick
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More information 9th Heinz Awards – 2003, Category ...
9th Heinz Awards – 2003
Category Recipient
Arts and Humanities Bernice Johnson Reagon
Environment Mario Molina (co-awardee)
Environment John Spengler (co-awardee)[33]
Human Condition Paul Farmer[8]
Public Policy Geraldine Jensen
Technology, the Economy and Employment Paul MacCready
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More information 10th Heinz Awards – 2004, Category ...
10th Heinz Awards – 2004
Category Recipient
Arts and Humanities August Wilson
Environment Peggy Shepard[8]
Human Condition Robert Butler
Public Policy Julius Richmond[34]
Technology, the Economy and Employment Robert Langer
The Chairman's Medal Richard Lugar and Sam Nunn
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More information 11th Heinz Awards – 2005, Category ...
11th Heinz Awards – 2005
Category Recipient
Arts and Humanities Mark di Suvero[35]
Environment Jerry Franklin[36]
Human Condition Joseph Rogers
Public Policy Sidney Drell[37]
Technology, the Economy and Employment Mildred Dresselhaus[4]
The Chairman's Medal Richard Goldman
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More information 12th Heinz Awards – 2006, Category ...
12th Heinz Awards – 2006
Category Recipient
Arts and Humanities James Nachtwey[5]
Environment Paul Anastas
Human Condition William Thomas
Public Policy Bruce Katz[38]
Technology, the Economy and Employment Leroy Hood[39]
The Chairman's Medal Elma Holder[1][5]
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More information 13th Heinz Awards – 2007, Category ...
13th Heinz Awards – 2007
Category Recipient
Arts and Humanities Dave Eggers[40]
Environment Bernard Amadei (co-awardee)
Environment Susan Seacrest (co-awardee)
Human Condition David Heymann[41]
Public Policy Donald Berwick
Technology, the Economy and Employment Hugh Herr[8]
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More information 14th Heinz Awards – 2008, Category ...
14th Heinz Awards – 2008
Category Recipient
Arts and Humanities Ann Hamilton[42]
Environment Thomas FitzGerald[10]
Human Condition Brenda Krause Eheart
Public Policy Robert Greenstein
Technology, the Economy and Employment Joseph DeRisi[9][43]
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More information 15th Heinz Awards with Special Focus on the Environment – 2009, Category ...
15th Heinz Awards with Special Focus on the Environment – 2009
Category Recipient
Special Focus on the Environment Robert Berkebile[44]
Special Focus on the Environment P. Dee Boersma
Special Focus on the Environment Christopher Field[45]
Special Focus on the Environment Ashok Gadgil[15][46]
Special Focus on the Environment Chip Giller
Special Focus on the Environment Deborah Rice
Special Focus on the Environment Joel Salatin
Special Focus on the Environment Kirk Smith[15]
Special Focus on the Environment Thomas Smith
Special Focus on the Environment Beverly Wright
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More information 16th Heinz Awards with Special Focus on Global Change – 2010, Category ...
16th Heinz Awards with Special Focus on Global Change – 2010
Category Recipient
Special Focus on Global Change James Balog[47]
Special Focus on Global Change Terrence Collins
Special Focus on Global Change Gretchen Daily[48]
Special Focus on Global Change Richard Feely
Special Focus on Global Change Cary Fowler[49]
Special Focus on Global Change Lynn Goldman[50]
Special Focus on Global Change Elizabeth Kolbert
Special Focus on Global Change Michael Oppenheimer
Special Focus on Global Change Daniel Sperling[51]
Special Focus on Global Change Frederick vom Saal[52]
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More information 17th Heinz Awards with Special Focus on the Environment – 2011, Category ...
17th Heinz Awards with Special Focus on the Environment – 2011
Category Recipient
Special Focus on the Environment John Luther Adams[53]
Special Focus on the Environment Richard Alley[54]
Special Focus on the Environment Janine Benyus
Special Focus on the Environment Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis[55]
Special Focus on the Environment Louis Guillette[56]
Special Focus on the Environment Joan Kleypas[57]
Special Focus on the Environment Nancy Knowlton[16]
Special Focus on the Environment Nancy Rabalais[58]
Special Focus on the Environment Sandra Steingraber[16]
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More information 18th Heinz Awards – 2012, Category ...
18th Heinz Awards – 2012
Category Recipient
Arts and Humanities Mason Bates[59]
Environment Richard J. Jackson
Human Condition Freeman Hrabowski III
Public Policy KC Golden[60]
Technology, the Economy and Employment Jay Keasling[61]
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More information 19th Heinz Awards – 2013, Category ...
19th Heinz Awards – 2013
Category Recipient
Arts and Humanities Abraham Verghese
Environment Jonathan Foley
Human Condition Salman Khan
Public Policy Sanjeev Arora
Technology, the Economy and Employment Leila Janah
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More information 20th Heinz Awards – 2015, Category ...
20th Heinz Awards – 2015
Category Recipient
Arts and Humanities Roz Chast
Environment Frederica Perera
Human Condition William McNulty and Jacob Wood
Public Policy Aaron Wolf
Technology, the Economy and Employment Sangeeta Bhatia
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More information 21st Heinz Awards – 2016, Category ...
21st Heinz Awards – 2016
Category Recipient
Arts and Humanities Troy Andrews
Environment Hal Harvey
Human Condition Nadine Burke Harris
Public Policy Michelle Alexander
Technology, the Economy and Employment Matthew Mullenweg
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More information 22nd Heinz Awards – 2017, Category ...
22nd Heinz Awards – 2017
Category Recipient
Arts and Humanities Natasha Trethewey
Environment Gregory Asner
Human Condition Angela Blanchard
Public Policy Mona Hanna-Attisha
Technology, the Economy and Employment Joseph DeSimone
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More information 23rd Heinz Awards – 2018, Category ...
23rd Heinz Awards – 2018
Category Recipient
Arts and Humanities Ralph Lemon
Environment Ming Kuo
Human Condition Norman Atkins
Public Policy Sherri Mason
Public Policy Enric Sala
Technology, the Economy and Employment Linda Rottenberg
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More information 24th Heinz Awards – 2019, Category ...
24th Heinz Awards – 2019
Category Recipient
Arts and Humanities Kevin Jerome Everson
Environment Rue Mapp
Human Condition Sarah Szanton
Public Policy Amanda Nguyen
Technology, the Economy and Employment Brandon Dennison
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More information 25th Heinz Awards – 2020, Category ...
25th Heinz Awards – 2020
Category Recipient
Arts and Humanities Gabriela Lena Frank
Environment Linda Behnken
Human Condition Molly Baldwin
Public Policy Katy Kozhimannil
Technology, the Economy and Employment Alfa Demmellash and Alex Forrester
Special Award Commemorating the 25th Heinz Awards Anniversary David Autor
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More information 26th Heinz Awards – 2021, Category ...
26th Heinz Awards – 2021
Category Recipient
Arts Tanya Aguiñiga
Arts Sanford Biggers
Economy A Better Balance (Dina Bakst and Sherry Leiwant)
Economy Bill Bynum
Environment Gabe Brown
Environment Jacqueline Patterson
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More information 27th Heinz Awards – 2022, Category ...
27th Heinz Awards – 2022
Category Recipient
Arts Vanessa German
Arts Cauleen Smith
Economy Hilary Abell and Alison Lingane
Economy Chrystel Cornelius
Environment Rhett Ayers Butler
Environment Anne Evens
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More information 28th Heinz Awards – 2023, Category ...
28th Heinz Awards – 2023
Category Recipient
Arts Kevin Beasley
Arts Roberto Lugo
Economy Kathryn Finney
Economy Leah Penniman
Environment Nicole Horseherder
Environment Colette Pichon Battle
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More information 29th Heinz Awards – 2024, Category ...
29th Heinz Awards – 2024
Category Recipient
Arts Jennie C. Jones
Arts Gala Porras-Kim
Economy Aisha Nyandoro (Springboard to Opportunities, Magnolia Mother’s Trust)
Economy Jessica Sager and Janna Wagner (All Our Kin)
Environment Amira Diamond and Melinda Kramer (Women’s Earth Alliance)
Environment Scott Loarie and Ken-ichi Ueda (iNaturalist)
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See also

References

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