Some of these projects will win the prize....but they are all changing the world.

The Extraordinary Stories Award at the NAE Grand Challenge Summit: tomorrow's innovators facing today's greatest challenges in order to forge a better future.

Sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation

TELL US YOUR STORIES

We are faced with a set of Grand Challenges whose solutions are critical to humanity over the next decades. The NAE has identified fourteen specific challenges in the broad areas of Sustainability, Health, Vulnerability, and Joy of Living. To solve these problems will require interdisciplinary collaboration and innovative thinking. At the April 21 conference, we will come together to explore new ways to educate the next generation of Grand Challenge Leaders and to celebrate the extraordinary stories of young people who are already making a difference in this space.

We invite you to submit stories of young people -- students and recent alumni -- who have made extraordinary contributions towards one of the Grand Challenge problems or areas. Nominations may be in the form of an essay or a video, multimedia or straight narrative; may come from anywhere in the US; and may be for an individual or group of students ranging from pre-college through post-graduate. The nomination should demonstrate how the work addresses a Grand Challenge problem or area and provide information about the educational context (formal or informal) that enabled or facilitated the work.

The extraordinary stories collected through this process will be showcased on a blog leading up to the April 21 meeting. The award winners will be selected prior to the April 21 meeting so that high production value videos of their extraordinary stories can be produced; these will be featured at the April 21 meeting as a way of framing the program.

The nomination deadline is March 1. Nominate a story here.