Thorne Prize for Social Innovation in Health or Education

The Thorne Prize for Social Innovation in Health or Education is a $25,000 cash prize awarded to the best student-led venture focused on social innovation in health or education for underserved communities in the United States or low-resource countries.

Application Selection & Judging Criteria

Innovation: The idea is truly innovative. It presents a new model, product, or service that fills a unique gap and/or applies an existing model to a new context.
Team: The team has the knowledge, skills, passion, energy, and ability to execute.
Opportunity: The problem the venture/organization/idea seeks to address is clearly defined, and there is evidence that a target population considers it important.
Viability: The team has developed a clear solution to the problem, has a realistic path for getting the solution to the end user, and can continue to deliver the solution in a way that is financially and operationally sustainable. In short, the idea seems like it could work.
Catalytic-ness: The prize will be meaningful in driving the team/project forward in ways that may otherwise not have been possible as quickly or at all.
Impact: The venture contributes to the creation of innovative solutions to challenges in health and education for underserved communities in the United States or low-resource countries.