Nominations for Roddenberry Prize

The Roddenberry Foundation invites nominations for the Roddenberry Prize, founded on Gene Roddenberry’s belief in human ingenuity's “remarkable” potential. It is an invitation to “make the unknown known” and to discover “what we can be if we believe in ourselves and our abilities.” The Roddenberry Prize embodies Gene’s unrelenting confidence in humanity’s wisdom and creativity to build a better future.

The $1.5 million Roddenberry Prize supports early-stage ventures that leverage scientific breakthroughs or emerging technologies that hold the promise for a better future. The prize seeks innovative, scalable, and ethical solutions that have the potential to achieve one or more of the 17 United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and 17 interlinked global outcomes to advance peace and prosperity for all by 2030. One finalist will receive the $1 million grant and five will  receive $100,000.

The prize is open to nonprofit and mission-driven for-profit entities, including 501(c)(3) and its non-U.S. equivalents, C corporations, B corporations, and hybrid organizations. Nominators must be globally recognized foundations, impact investors, venture capitalists, accelerators, academic institutions, or similar funders with a portfolio of post-seed organizations through series A and meet the criteria above. 

Nominations must be made by September 2, 2022, and all eligible nominees will be asked to submit a letter of intent on a rolling basis through September 16, 2022. A select number of applicants will be invited to submit a second-round application between September 20, 2022, and October 14, 2022, and six finalists will be invited to share their work and vision during a one-hour meeting with the foundation staff and board.

For complete program guidelines and application instructions, see the Roddenberry Foundation website.