Nominations Open For Indianapolis Prize

Press Release

INDIANAPOLIS --- Nominations for the 2012 Indianapolis Prize, the world’s leading award for animal conservation, will be accepted from now until January 21, 2011. The $100,000 biennial award is given to an individual animal conservationist who has made significant achievements in advancing sustainability of an animal species or group of species. It represents the largest individual monetary award for animal conservation in the world and is given as an unrestricted gift to the chosen recipient.

Anyone can nominate a candidate for the Indianapolis Prize. To be accepted as Nominees, individuals must have accomplished a personal achievement or series of achievements that have resulted in a demonstrable positive impact on a species or group of species that is likely to improve the species’ likelihood of long-term survival.

For complete guidelines and to learn more about the nominating process, send an e-mail to nomination@indianapolisprize.org or call (317) 630-2710. Once your request has been received, a nomination form with instructions may be sent by return e-mail if applicable.

The winner of the 2010 Indianapolis Prize is Iain Douglas-Hamilton, Ph.D., founder of Save the Elephants. Four decades ago, Douglas-Hamilton pioneered the first in-depth scientific study of elephant social behavior that has set the standard for every study to follow. He led emergency anti-poaching efforts in Uganda to bring the elephant population there from the very brink of extinction and testified before Congress to subsequently establish the African elephant bill, to date the most successful funding program for the species. His pioneering Global Positioning System (GPS) elephant tracking, widely emulated in Africa and Asia, has become a model survey technique.

The Indianapolis Prize was first awarded in 2006 to Dr. George Archibald, the co-founder of the International Crane Foundation, who has dedicated more than 30 years to saving the 15 remaining species of these magnificent and increasingly endangered birds. The 2008 winner was George Schaller, Ph.D., senior conservationist for the Wildlife Conservation Society and Vice President of the Panthera Foundation. For more than 50 years, George Schaller set the standard for working with endangered animals in the field and in working with native populations to create efficient ways for those animals and humans to co-exist.

Past nominees and finalists for the Indianapolis Prize are representative of the most significant conservationists throughout the world. Among the nearly 100 outstanding scientists who have been nominated are: renowned whale and ocean researcher Roger Payne; Carl Safina, champion of ocean conservation; and, heroes to two big cats – Cheetah Conservation Fund founder Laurie Marker and Snow Leopard Conservancy founder Rodney Jackson.

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The Indianapolis Prize was initiated in 2004 by the Indianapolis Zoo as a significant component of its mission to empower people and communities, both locally and globally, to advance animal conservation. The Eli Lilly and Company Foundation has provided funding for the Indianapolis Prize since 2006.

Source: The Indianapolis Prize