UofL presents the annual prizes in music, world order, psychology, education and religion and gives the religion prize jointly with the seminary. All of the 2024 winners will visit Louisville in April to give free, public talks on their winning ideas.

The winners are:

• Aleksandra Vrebalov, a Serbian-American composer who won the music prize for a chorale work transcending a single language, culture or religion to express how all life is interconnected
• Neta Crawford, a University of Oxford international relations scholar who won the world order prize for analyzing the Pentagon’s carbon footprint and its effect on climate change
• Ann Masten, a University of Minnesota child development scholar who won the psychology prize for finding that resilience comes from “ordinary magic” within us and our supportive connections with others
• Laura Hamilton and Kelly Nielsen, two University of California sociologists who co-won the education prize for exploring the racial consequences of funding cuts at public universities
• The Rev. Charles Halton, an Episcopal priest in Lexington, Ky., who explained how embracing God as a being with human qualities can inspire us to become better people

“The Grawemeyer Awards recognize highly constructive ideas with world-changing potential and that’s certainly true of the ideas we’re honoring this time.” said Marion Hambrick, the awards program’s executive director.

Vrebalov shows how music can unite us despite our differences, while Crawford sheds new light on the U.S. military’s role in climate change. Masten explains why some people recover quickly from major setbacks when others don’t. Hamilton and Nielsen call for a fairer way to fund the nation’s public universities and Halton offers a fresh perspective on spiritual growth.

UofL graduate Charles Grawemeyer created the Grawemeyer Awards in 1984 with an initial endowment of $9 million. The first award, music composition, was presented in 1985. ����ֱ�� was added in 1989, religion in 1990, world order in 1998 and psychology in 2000.

Grawemeyer distinguished the awards by honoring ideas rather than lifelong achievement, also insisting that laypeople as well as professionals take part in the selection process.

Charles Grawemeyer, a UofL graduate and former seminary trustee, launched the awards program in 1984 to emphasize the impact a single outstanding idea can have on the world.

The winners are:

• Olga Neuwirth, a Viennese composer who won the music composition award for her opera showing that humanity matters more than gender
• Mona Lena Krook, a Rutgers University scholar who won the world order award for analyzing the problem of violence against women in politics
• Terrie Moffitt, a Duke University professor who won the psychology award for discovering two types of antisocial behavior in juveniles
• Rucker Johnson, a University of California-Berkeley professor who won the education award for assessing the merits of school integration
• Duncan Ryuken Williams, a University of Southern California scholar who won the religion award for exploring how U.S. Buddhists kept their faith during World War II

“All of the 2022 winners offer important new insights into some of today’s most compelling issues,” said Marion Hambrick, Grawemeyer Awards executive director.

“Their ideas show how gender can be fluid, how violence against women in public life can be stopped, how courts can treat juvenile offenders fairly, how school integration can benefit students of all races and how religious inclusiveness can lead to peace, he said.

UofL presents the annual prizes in music, world order, psychology and education and gives the religion prize jointly with the seminary. All of the 2022 winners will be invited to visit Louisville in April to give free, public talks on their winning ideas.

Charles Grawemeyer, a UofL graduate and former seminary trustee, launched the awards program in 1984 to underscore the impact a single idea can have on the world.

The winners are:

• , a San Diego composer who won the music composition award for his orchestral work evoking the threat climate change poses to humanity
• , an American University professor who won the world order award for his book challenging the United Nations to rethink how it handles environmental problems
• , a King’s College, London, behavioral geneticist who won the psychology award for explaining how DNA influences how we work with the world around us
• , two scholars who co-won the education award for their study of how to encourage deeper learning in U.S. high schools
• , a Willamette University professor who won the religion award for showing how an early Christian creed urging human solidarity applies in modern life

“All of the 2020 winners offer important new insights into some of today’s most significant issues, which is exactly what we seek to reward with these prizes,” said Charles Leonard, Grawemeyer Awards executive director.

“Two winners focus on the threat posed by climate change even though they work in very different fields, while the others broaden our grasp of how genes affect behavior, how American high schools can better prepare students and how an ancient religious creed can help us deal with bigotry, racism and sexism.”

UofL presents the annual prizes in music, world order, psychology and education and gives the religion prize jointly with the seminary. All of the 2020 award recipients will visit Louisville in April to give free, public talks on their winning ideas.

The honorees were a music composer who blended sounds from diverse cultures, neuroscientists who studied how addiction changes the brain, a religious scholar who researched the demise of white Christian influence and the creators of a human rights index that gauges a nation’s progress toward fulfilling social and economic rights.

After a whirlwind week of presentations and meet-and-greets, the winners were honored at a gala event April 11 where they received their award medallions and $100,000 prize. See

Here’s a summary of the winning ideas.

, Religion, “The End of White Christian America”

The idea: In his 2016 book, “The End of White Christian America,” Jones analyzes the dramatic decline of Americans who identify as white and Christian. Jones explains how this shift is redefining personal beliefs, politics and culture.

Why it matters: U.S. history and politics have been predominately shaped by white Christians. As that era comes to an end, Jones’ book illuminates the changes ahead and provides a platform for Americans to understand how they can find common ground.

Addendum: White Christian Americans made up 54% of the U.S. population in 2008. By 2014, that number dropped to 47%, representing a dramatic shift in just six years.

, World Order, “Fulfilling Social and Economic Rights”

The idea: An innovative framework, set forth in the 2015 book, “Fulfilling Social and Economic Rights,” provides a method for gauging how well nations are providing the basic human rights of food, health, education, housing, work and social well-being to their citizens and suggests how they can advance such rights even further. The trio used the United Nations’ 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights as a basis for their work.

Why it matters: While efforts to measure the progress of human rights have persisted for many decades, the index conceived by Fukuda-Parr, Lawson-Remer and Randolph is more comprehensive and advanced and less subjective.

Addendum: The researchers found a strong correlation between gender equality—countries where women are empowered to make decisions—and that country’s social and economic progress.

, Psychology, “Incentive-Sensitization Theory of Addiction”

The idea: In their “Incentive-Sensitization Theory of Addiction,” the researchers show how an addicts’ brain becomes hypersensitive to drugs and drug cues, which can produce excessive “wanting” for drugs even though the individual may no longer “like” the drug. This sensitization effect can last for years, making it harder for addicts to recover.

Why it matters: Understanding brain sensitization and how it can impact drug cravings is an important step in coming up with new and better ways to treat addiction.

Addendum: When Berridge and Robinson first published their theory in 1993, it ran counter to all thinking about pleasure systems in the brain. However, studies over the past 25 years have supported it.

Composition, “Nomaden”

The idea: Nomaden, a one-hour work for cello solo, brings together an ensemble of instruments and sounds from diverse cultures. From his travels and curiosity about the many different types of musical instruments from around the world, Bons composed “Nomaden” with the intent of “taking listeners on a journey.”

Why it matters: The piece, anchored by cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras, is one of the most successful examples of music that combines eclectic styles and sounds. Instruments and players from Europe, Asia and the Middle East are part of the unusual collaboration.

Addendum: Bons started out as a guitarist and his early influences included The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa. Bons was selected for the Grawemeyer Award from a pool of 126 entries from around the world.

The pay tribute to the power of creative ideas. Awards are given in religion, education, ideas improving world order, music composition and psychology. Winners are announced in the fall semester and come to Louisville in April to present their ideas.

Those ideas earned their creators 2019 , $100,000 prizes recognizing how powerful concepts can change the world. Award recipients were named Dec. 3-7.

The winners are:

• , music composition, for writing the non-traditional concerto “Nomaden”
• , ideas improving world order, for designing a framework to help nations expand human rights
• , for developing a theory explaining how drug addiction works in the brain
• , for explaining how white Protestant dominance of U.S. politics and culture is ending

“As is so often the case, our award recipients have addressed important issues of the day in a highly creative manner,” said Charles Leonard, Grawemeyer Awards executive director.

“From shedding new light on opioid addiction to charting a vast political and cultural change, from improving the well-being of people worldwide to welcoming diverse cultures into Western classical music, all of their ideas have potential to enrich our lives.”

UofL presents the annual prizes in music, world order, psychology and education and gives the religion prize jointly with Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

No education award was given this year because “jurors could not single out an idea likely to advance our field in a highly significant way,” said Marion Hambrick, an associate professor in UofL’s College of ����ֱ�� and Human Development, who directs the award.

The late Charles Grawemeyer, a UofL graduate and former seminary trustee, set up the awards in 1984 to underscore the impact a single idea can have on the world. He also asked that laypeople be involved in selecting the awards to ensure broad understanding of the winning ideas.

All of the Grawemeyer Award recipients will visit Louisville in April to give free, public talks on their winning ideas.