SAN FRANCISCO, CA – World of Children (www.worldofchildren.org), the only global recognition and funding non-profit that recognizes individuals who are changing the lives of children in the U.S. and abroad, today issued a final call for nominations for the 2010 World of Children Awards.

The much-coveted awards, which recognize and provide funding to individuals whose groundbreaking work has dramatically improved children’s lives, have been dubbed by the media as the “Nobel Prize® for Child Advocacy”. Awards are granted in three categories: 

• World of Children’s Youth Award, which carries a grant of up to $25,000 and recognizes a young person under the age of 21 who is making extraordinary contributions to the lives of other children.
  
   
• World of Children Humanitarian Award, which carries a grant of up to $50,000 and recognizes an individual who has made a significant lifetime contribution to children in the areas of social services, education or humanitarian services. Nominees must have created, managed or otherwise supported one or more sustainable programs that have significantly contributed to children’s opportunities to be safe, to learn and to grow.

• World of Children Health Award, which carries a grant of up to $50,000 and recognizes an individual who has made a significant lifetime contribution to children in the fields of health, medicine or the sciences. Nominees must have created, managed or otherwise supported one or more sustainable programs that have significantly contributed to children’s health and well-being.

Nominees for the World of Children Humanitarian and Health Awards must have been working on behalf of children over and above their normal employment and have been engaged in their efforts for a minimum of 10 years.

Nominations for the 2010 World of Children Awards must be submitted by midnight Pacific Standard Time (PST) on Saturday, May 1, 2010. Recipients of the 2010 World of Children Awards will be officially announced and celebrated in New York City in November 2010.

“Each year World of Children searches the globe for ordinary people doing extraordinary work on behalf of children in need,” said Stephanie March, World of Children’s Celebrity Ambassador. “Our World of Children Award honorees are a remarkable example of the tremendous impact just one individual can have on the lives of others.”

For more than a decade, World of Children has identified and vetted some of the most promising changemakers for children worldwide and provided funding for their efforts to improve children’s lives. The organization’s exhaustive research and vetting of individuals spearheading health and humanitarian initiatives across the global spectrum has been hailed by leading philanthropic organizations.

World of Children has been featured in Kenneth Cole’s AWEARNESS: Inspiring Stories About How to Make a Difference (http://www.kennethcole.com/awearness/) and previous World of Children honorees have been featured by
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/opinion/16kristof.html),
Fast Company Magazine, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Bonnie Hunt Show, USA Today, People Magazine and a wide range of national and international media. The World of Children Awards have often served as a pivotal launching point for its recipients.  

World of Children is led by co-founders Harry Leibowitz and Kay Isaacson-Leibowitz, retired senior executives from Procter & Gamble and Victoria’s Secret, whose dream is to bestow a Nobel Prize®-like award to honor social changemakers who improve children’s lives.  Since 1998, World of Children has awarded more than $2 million in cash grants to 84 changemakers working in more than 50 countries. 

More about World of Children and its honorees is at www.worldofchildren.org. 

ABOUT WORLD OF CHILDREN

World of Children (www.worldofchildren.org) is the only global recognition and funding program for people specifically and exclusively serving the needs of children. Now a 12-year-old philanthropy dedicated to identifying and leveraging the efforts of those working on the ground to improve children’s lives, World of Children has recognized some of the most promising changemakers for children worldwide and provided funding and visibility for their efforts.

Hailed recently by the media as the “Nobel Prize© for Children,” the World of Children Awards program searches the globe for everyday changemakers and provides funding and recognition to support their life-changing work for children.  As such, World of Children acts like a social venture capitalist – employing a world-class research, review, vetting and selection process led by a committee of independent experts and professionals to find those individuals who are pioneering life-changing programs to benefit children. Then World of Children invests, through cash grants, in those enterprising individuals with a demonstrated track record of success, honors them at an annual awards ceremony in New York City and helps them leverage their World of Children awards to raise additional funds and generate visibility and strategic partnerships for their programs. 

Leading philanthropies praise this organization’s extensive worldwide research and vetting of extraordinary individuals who are spearheading health and humanitarian programs.  World of Children has awarded more than $2 million in cash grants to 84 changemakers for children working in over 50 countries.