TED Prize: 2007 announced

A small but lively group of TEDsters gathered in the Golden Gate Room at Fort Mason in San Francisco tonight to hear TED steward Chris Anderson announce next year's TED Prize winners. Attendees included Architecture for Humanity's Cameron Sinclair, a prize winner from last year. The new winners are:

. Photojournalist James Nachtwey. His deeply-moving and -disturbing photographs from distressed areas of the world have documented wars, famine, and other terrible events. Jim Daly of the George Lucas Educational Foundation told me how moving Nachtwey's "War Photographer" movie is.

. Dr. E.O. Wilson. Dr. Wilson has been a passionate proponent of biodiversity and environmental preservation for decades.

. Bill Clinton.

All of these folks are tremendously worthy of the $100,000 prize, and the opportunity to articulate a "wish" that will hopefully mobilize the TED community of affluent and influential people. But unless I'm misunderstanding the role of the TED prize - to highlight the work of people who have had an impact on the world, and who can have an even greater impact by the visibility and resources the award brings - I would question whether Clinton is the best recipient. Through the Clinton Global Initiative, Clinton is able to bring to bear unprecedented attention and resources to focus on world problems. The dollar amount and the wish seem redundant to me: This is a man who is doing exceptional things, but who doesn't have any difficulty marshalling resources. There are many others who could use the visibility of the prize to increase their impact on the world.

I'm also concerned there were no women on the list; not because there should be some artificial checklist of politically-correct characteristics for recipients, but because there are so many worthy initiatives led by women that could again use the platform of the prize to extend their impact. But then, I'm not a member of the selection committee, so I'd appreciate any information that would illustrate why there were no women chosen this year.

gB

Comments

[Chris Anderson]

"But unless I'm misunderstanding the role of the TED prize..."
Gary, with respect, I think you are misunderstanding it. The point of the prize is not to see how much of an incremental difference the TED community can make to our winners. It's the other way round. The question is which individuals can best inspire the TED community to make a difference in the world.

It's like crticizing Warren Buffett for granting his fortune to the already-somewhat-well-resourced Gates Foundation, when he could instead have truly transformed the future of the Des Moines Fire Fighters Fund. I suspect he was thinking about who is best placed to leverage change in the world. And so are we.

We're being deluged with feedback from people excited to see what wish Clinton will come up with in March. That excitement is the point. This man inspires people to think big. And when the TED community thinks big, something spectacular can happen. Well... we'll see soon enough.

Thanks for your comments too about women. We would LOVE to get more nominations of great women, and warmly encourage you to contribute to this process next year. Anyone can nominate someone. The details are at www.ted.com under 'TED prize'.

Chris Anderson, TED Curator