Jenny Bowen

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The 2011 Purpose Prize winners are making big news.

Since the five winners were announced November 3, media outlets from across the country have been highlighting the remarkable work that earned these social innovators the $100,000 award.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy profiles each of the “five people who set out to solve big problems.” The article includes short videos of the winners, which you can also watch here.

SecondAct writes: “In the world of encore careers, The Purpose Prize is the equivalent of the MacArthur Foundation `genius’ grants, recognizing individuals considered to be game changers and leading the way in what it means to give back.”

Praising the winners, The Huffington Post remarks, “For their noble, brave and unfinished work, we salute them.”

In its Local Heroes section, AARP.org devotes several pages to the winners, including the profile below of Jenny Bowen, founder of Half the Sky Foundation. Bowen is the recipient of the first Purpose Prize for Intergenerational Innovation, sponsored by AARP.

Prize winners were also lauded via the social media space where hundreds of thousands of supporters congratulated them via Twitter and Facebook.

The Purpose Prize is a program of Civic Ventures, made possible by The Atlantic Philanthropies and the John Templeton Foundation. Prize winners, all above age 60, serve the greater good in various ways. Some have created ventures to improve communities in the United States; others have established organizations to help people in need abroad.

Check out these selected stories about each of the 2011 winners:

• Jenny Bowen, Half the Sky Foundation (Berkeley, Calif.) – AARP.org describes how Bowen is bettering the lives of orphans in China by working with the Chinese government.
• Randal Charlton, TechTown (Detroit) – Crain’s Detroit Business discusses how Charlton is working to revive Detroit’s suffering economy by promoting local entrepreneurship.
• Nancy Sanford Hughes, StoveTeam International (Eugene, Ore.) – Portland Business Journal showcases how Hughes’ work addresses health and environmental issues in developing countries.
• Wanjiru Kamau, African Immigrant and Refugee Foundation (Washington, D.C.) – Public radio station WAMU highlights Kamau’s work with young African immigrants adjusting to life in the United States.
• Edward Mazria, Architecture 2030 (Santa Fe, N.M.) – Forbes explains how Mazria is trying to persuade the building sector, a major polluter, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption.

For more media coverage on The Purpose Prize, go here.

Feeling inspired? The winners would love to hear from you. You can contact them through their Encore.org profile pages here.

And if you know a social innovator who is 60 or older, be sure to nominate him or her for next year’s Purpose Prize. You can find the nomination form here.