Some have called The Purpose Prize the “genius award for retirees.” This year's winners exemplify the spirit of the $100,000 award – the country's only large-scale investment in social innovators in the second half of life.

The 2011 winners are:

Oprah Winfrey has her sights on two 2010 Purpose Prize winners. Margaret Gordon and Dana Freyer were recently showcased on Oprah.com for the extraordinary work they do in their encores.

This year President Obama is awarding the Presidential Citizens Medal to just 13 people. And three of them – picked from 6,000 nominees – are Purpose Prize winners.

“This year’s recipients of the Citizens Medal come from different backgrounds, but they share a commitment to a cause greater than themselves,” Obama said in a statement. “They exemplify the best of what it means to be an American.”

Emmy-award-winning journalist Jane Pauley sat down recently with two Purpose Prize fellows, Libba and Gifford Pinchot, to film a segment for NBC’s TODAY show.
Pauley selected the couple for her “Your Life Calling” segment because, in their fifties, the Pinchots founded the Bainbridge Graduate Institute (BGI) to train future business leaders to go green.

Some of the most inspiring encore stories come from Purpose Prize winners and fellows, people in their 60s and beyond who are tackling society’s toughest problems.

If you’re in New York on June 29, join us at the New York Public Library for some inspiration from four Purpose Prize honorees, who will talk about how they transitioned into encore careers.

Keep up with the latest encore news. Follow us on Twitter: @EncoreCareers

Purpose Prize women are receiving big honors and media attention these days.

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has gotten the message from his readers: changing the world is not just for young people.

“Seniors, dig out your anti-malaria mosquito netting now,” Kristof wrote in his Sunday column, in which he announced that for his fifth annual “Win-a-Trip Contest” he’ll for the first time take someone over 60 along with a college student.

Media across the nation are shining a spotlight on this year’s Purpose Prize winners, social innovators over age 60 who are being recognized this week with $100,000 and $50,000 awards.