Nomination Criteria

The criteria below are also available as a PDF.

1. Nominees must be nominated by a third party.
2. Nominees may be a single individual or a team of two people who are working together and have a pivotal role in their project’s innovative design and implementation.
3. Nominees should be forces for equity and social justice.  The nominator should be able to demonstrate that the nominees, through their education, co-creative work, and dedication, have played an instrumental role in:
4. ​​​​​​​Identifying a concrete social or environmental justice need;
5. Designing AND implementing an equitable and creative solution related to that need;
6. Beginning to address the need’s root causes and transform the systems that undergird them; and
7. Demonstrating a substantive and sustainable community or environmental impact now and in the future.
8. Nominees must consent to their nomination. This consent will be given in the form of a letter that nominators upload in PDF format. (If you are nominating two individuals for collaborative work, nominees should write this letter together.) The letter must include:
   1. A statement indicating their willingness to be nominated for this prize;
   2. A brief (3-4 paragraph) personal biography detailing:
      1. The development of their interest and involvement with the social justice need;
      2. Their definition of social justice and how that connects to their work.
      3. A 4-5 paragraph description of their social innovation that includes a summary of:
         1. A description of their role in designing and implementing an equitable and creative solution related to that need;
         2. The context in which they are working and the concrete social or environmental justice need they are addressing;
         3. How they are addressing the need’s root causes and transforming the systems that undergird them; and
         4. How their project demonstrates substantive and sustainable community or environmental impact both now and in the future.
9. Nominees should demonstrate practices that are consistent with Grinnell College's education in the liberal arts through serving the common good and demonstrating expertise in the areas of critical thinking; innovative, equitable, and systemic problem solving; and demonstrated change-making. 
10. Nominees may be from anywhere in the world. 
11. Nominees DO NOT need to be affiliated with Grinnell College.
12. Nominees must have sufficient English fluency to engage with the Grinnell College community.
13. Nominees selected as semifinalists will be interviewed by student researchers and may be asked to provide more details about their work. Nominees selected as finalists will be contacted by Grinnell Prize staff and asked for additional supplemental information.  This information must be provided in English and may include items such as: 
    1. Annual reports
    2. Nominee resumes or CVs
    3. Three letters of reference
    4. Photos
    5. Any news articles and videos that tell the story of the work
    6. Organizational and policy documents (IRS 990 forms or audited financial statements)
14. Nominees will be notified if they have won in late spring of 2022, and a formal announcement of winners will be released in July.