The S.E.VEN Fund announces The WHY Prize, a first of its kind challenge - a $50,000 prize for the best act of integration between a macroeconomist and an anthropologist in the field of Enterprise Solutions to Poverty published in 2007, 2008, or 2009. Submissions will be considered on an ongoing basis until a winner is selected. However, The WHY Prize will be awarded no earlier than October 7, 2008. SEVEN intends to run a version of this competition annually.

We are inspired by The X PRIZE Foundation and similar organizations whose goal is to bring about “radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity”. The “WHY Prize” builds on this rich history of providing incentives to generate mass momentum and asks the question, “WHY aren’t experts from different domains collaborating to find solutions to our most pressing problem: poverty?” The WHY Prize intends to catalyze cross-fertilization across disciplines and spur progress in finding sustainable solutions to poverty.

The first USD 50,000 WHY Prize, which can be awarded as early as October of 2008 will recognize a team of two or more individuals that have made a major contribution to the field of enterprise based solutions to poverty.

The WHY prize will reward a team that has published during 2007 or 2008 in either a major venue like the Atlantic Monthly, New York Times Magazine, Financial Times, Businessweek, Forbes, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs etc. or in a peer reviewed journal, with a view toward producing further work such as a book or additional articles in a peer reviewed format.

The published piece must add to the dialogue around enterprise solutions to poverty by proposing solutions that represent the best integration of actionable insights and thought leadership. We wish to create an act of integration between the world of structural incentives, and those who study how people attach meaning to their lives. We prefer, though do not limit, the award to go to experienced authors and PhD’s, experts in their own domains, to teams that consist of different ethnicities, though we do not care which; and to those who reside on different continents and are affiliated with different institutions.

Our objective is simply, to honor a masterpiece of integration, to highlight an exercise in tolerance and innovation, set across intellectual, ethnic and geographic domains; and with the audacious goal of contributing to the end of poverty.

How to apply
You may submit an article, paper, or book for consideration by applying on our website at WHY prize entry form . Submissions should include a copy of the nominated article, brief bios of authors, and a 100-200 word executive summary explaining the work’s significance to the field of Enterprise Solutions to Poverty through the lens of integration between macroeconomics and anthropology. Submissions will be accepted on an ongoing basis.  Only applications submitted through this form on our website are accepted. If you encounter problems, please contact S.E.VEN at info@SEVENfund.org.

SEVEN (The Social Equity Venture Fund) is an independent nonprofit organization supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. We provide monetary, organizational, and intellectual support for the research of enterprise based solutions to poverty, in accord with the SEVEN Fund Bylaws.