Out of the 80 submissions, the field has been narrowed to 15. But, there can only be three winners of the Booz Allen Aspen Ideas Award. This spring, Festival Presenters and Scholars have been hard at work formulating a pitch that will change communities for the better. Booz Allen and the Aspen Institute have again teamed up to make the Award possible. The narrowed field of competitors brought forward ideas in three categories. The crowdsources finalists will then then pitch their idea live at the Aspen Ideas Festival for an opportunity to win one of three $25,000 awards.  

“There was no shortage of ingenious ideas this year,” said Kurt Scherer, director of the Booz Allen Innovation Center in Washington, D.C. “The Booz Allen Aspen Ideas Award is a great, impactful opportunity for creative thinkers to showcase their ‘next big thing’ and help find solutions to some of our most pressing social challenges.”

Click on the descriptions below to learn more about each finalist.

Spotlight Health

• Anne Cooper, Speaker, Get Schools Cooking
• Mona Hanna-Attisha, Speaker, Flint Kids Read
• Marc Koska, Speaker, LifeSaver South Africa
• Wendy Leonard, Scholar, Aheza: Bright Futures- Nourishing children and Strengthening Health Systems
• YiDing Yu, Scholar, Twiage: Accelerating Life-Saving Emergency Care

Festival 1

• Marcus Bullock and Dwayne Betts, Speakers, Flikshop and the Flikshop School of Business
• Stephanie Speirs, Scholar, Roofless Solar for Every American
• Chris Vogliano, Scholar, wasteLESS
• Caitlin Werrell, Arthur Vining Davis Fellow, Climate to Conflict Nexus- An Interactive Web Tool
• Jeremy Wickenheiser, Scholar, Entrepreneurship and an Innovation Economy Ready Workforce

Festival 2

• Francella Chinchilla, Scholar, Networking: The Untold College Graduation Requirement
• Dianne Harrison, Speaker, Let Matadors Learn and Lead
• Jerry Paffendorf, Scholar, LOVELAND: Mapping Every Parcel on the Planet
• Natalye Paquin, Scholar, Girls Lead: Diversity in STEM
• Carlos Pierre, Scholar, Crowd Based Due Diligence

The Ideas Award culminates in a live pitch session during the Aspen Ideas Festival where five finalists in each session – Spotlight Health, Festival 1, and Festival 2 – will pitch their projects to an eager audience.

“The Booz Allen Aspen Ideas Award recognizes marvelously innovative ideas moving to action. The Award allows us the privilege of supporting these change makers in their efforts,” says Kitty Boone, executive director of the Festival. “We look forward to fostering these and other brilliant concepts through the Booz Allen Aspen Ideas Award for years to come.”

Stay tuned throughout the Festival to watch the finalists present their ideas and see which three take home the ultimate prize.

Booz Allen Hamilton

Booz Allen Hamilton

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