Joseph Jaworski
Main Award
Are you an innovator in foresight, working to shape or disrupt the future?
Applications closed 30 June 2021
About the Main Award
The Main Award recognises an individual or a team (up to five people) that is shaping the future of their community or field. You will be using innovative approaches, bringing fresh ideas and inspiration, and be able showcase their impact. You should You should be committed to putting people at the heart of the future, with a focus on impact and purpose.
Established in 2018, this annual award aims to recognise emerging ‘waves’ of foresight work internationally, from civil society, government, business and creative industries. It recognises your efforts to shape the future and improve lives. It also showcases stories of change in communities internationally. Change that may come from a new generation with new aspirations and values; from new geographies, with a growing foresight practice in Africa and Asia as well as other regions; and from second- or third-career practitioners entering the field from other domains, bringing fresh ideas and approaches.
Our Inspiration
We have chosen to name the Main Award in recognition of Joseph Jaworski, a seminal futurist and author of Synchronicity. Joseph has championed the need for foresight to be united with profound leadership in order to achieve social transformation. He inspires us across generations, being a vocal advocate for 50 years on the kind of service-leadership that is necessary for 21st century. As one of the architects of Theory U, he reminds us to put the heart and values at the centre of foresight activity.
Who can enter
The Main Award is open to anyone aged between 18 and 35 or with less than 5 years’ experience as a foresight practitioner. Applications are welcome from anyone who considers themeselves a foresight practitioner – and is taking a futures approach to their work to explore and understand the impacts of longer-term factors and drivers of change, to better understand how different futures might evolve, and to generate insights for decisions made today.
Eligible applicants will be invited to join SOIF’s Sensing Network, one of the largest global networks of next-generation future-alert activists representing over 69 countries across six continents around the world. Our long-term ambition is to accelerate and amplify the work of the next generation of changemakers; to support leading thinkers using foresight as a critical tool for a better global future.
Main Award
The Joseph Jaworski Main Award is open to anyone between the ages of 18-35 or with less than five years' experience as a foresight practitioner. It will support one Winner and a cohort of Special Awardees to develop both personally and professionally. Enter as a team or individual.*
Applications are closed →What can I win?
- Winner receives a USD 10,000 prize to support their project and attendance at the SOIF Summer Retreat.
- Special Awards for applications from specific geographies and sectors. All Special awardees are invited to become Fellows and receive mentoring and support from SOIF and judges. Fellows are invited to join an annual meeting in Brussels.
- Funded Special Awards worth USD 2,500 each: Forced Labour and Human Trafficking, Peacebuilding, the MENA region, East Asia, Small Island Developing States and Technology and security..
Special awards
We offer Special Awards to innovators in each continent and across key sectors including policy-makers, academia, entrepreneurs, humanitarian and development, education, environment, cities and communities.
Our special awardees will join the NGFP Fellows and receive partnering opportunities and support from SOIF and our judges. All the fellows will be brought together to join a face-to-face gathering later in the year. Over the past two years, this has been held at ESPAS in Brussels.
For 2021, we are excited to announce seven awards with secured funding. We are also seeking funding to support our special awardees financially, if you are interested in sponsoring an award, please get in touch.
Funded special awards
Forced Labour and Human Trafficking (USD 2500)
Celebrating those leading the fight against modern slavery using the tools of foresight and futures.
Peacebuilding (USD 2500)
Supporting foresight and futures excellence in the peacebuilding space.
Middle East and North Africa (USD 2500)
For those furthering futures work in the region or raising awareness of foresight through the Arabic-speaking world.
East Asia (USD 2500)
For innovative practitioners working and living in East Asia.
Small Island Developing States (USD 2500)
For innovative practitioners working and living in Small Island Developing States.
Technology and security (USD 2500)
Recognising new ideas and perspectives on long-term technology threats to our personal and global security: from nuclear and biological to climate, digital and beyond.
Sectoral awards
Education Awarding those leading the way in foresight across the education sector.
Environment Supporting foresight and futures practitioners and activists in the vital field of environmental sustainability.
Cities For this award we look to those making waves in the foresight space with a focus on the urban space.
Community To recognise activists practitioners making a special contribution at a local and community level.
Corporate For those driving foresight and futures thinking in major private-sector organisations.
Entrepreneur Celebrating those combining foresight, futures and the best of entrepreneurial business thinking.
Policy (International and Government) Two awards highlighting foresight leaders working in policy at the international and national levels.
Development This award focusses on foresight success in the international development field, particularly in economic development.
Team Award To recognise groups have been leading the way on collaborative approaches to foresight and futures.
Geographic awards
For those living or working in:
Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Oceania
What do we mean by foresight?
Foresight is a systematic way of engaging with uncertainty by exploring alternative futures, including aspirational ones. As a discipline, it has the potential to shape the future. It is not about predicting the future, but understanding your current and future operating environment. Insights gained from foresight equip communities and organisations to recognise and respond to emerging threats and opportunities by developing enhanced competitiveness, resilience and agility.
A foresight practitioner is anyone who takes a futures approach to their work to explore and understand the impacts of longer-term factors and drivers of change on the future, to understand better how different futures might evolve, and to generate insights for decisions made today.
The application process
Start by registering your account
To get started visit the application site and register your account. We'll ask for basic information from you at this stage and a few questions to confirm your eligibility. If you're under 25 and thinking of registering for the Walkabout prizes, you only need to register once for both awards.
Step 1 – Profile
Complete your profile which asks for some basic contact information, contact details, a biography and for you to provide a referee. You can come back to complete this step at any time but you'll need to complete this to submit.
Step 2 – Team members
If you'd like to enter the Award as a team you'll need to complete this section to be able to create and set up your team. You'll need to enter contact and eligibility information for your team members. Once they're added you can assing them to your team.
Step 3 – Sensing Challenge
Complete the sensing challenge. This can be completed at any time and is not assessed as part of your application. However, you will need to complete this before you submit your application. It asks you to share some perspectives on the future of your community. We anticpate this may take up to 10 minutes to complete.
You will be asked to crate a 30-60 second vox pop on why thinking about the future is important.
Step 4 – Your application
This is the only part of your application that is assessed by our judges and there are three parts to the process.
1. Case study You will be asked to submit a 1000 to 2000 word case-study on a foresight initiative that you have championed or led. We are looking to understand the purpose and objective, the challenge of opportunity that it was trying to address, what was innovative about the approach used, how communities were involved and the impact of the work. We also want to know a little but about what you did to support the project. Please note: you don’t need to have led the project but you need to have played an active role in the project and let us know a bit about what you did.
2. Video proposal You will be asked to create and upload a 2-4 minute video outlining what you would do with the Main Award funding if you were to win. We're looking for why you think your project is important, what it is and how the award would help you acheive your aims. We also want to understand the contribution you would make to the field of foresight, how the award would help you to develop personally and professionally, and how you will become a foresight amabassador in your community, organisation or country?
Remember to submit
Please don't forget to submit your application. You have until 23:59 GMT+1 on 30 June 2021 to enter.
A final note.
If you are entering the Walkabout prizes the application process is slightly different (find out more here).
We won't share any information on your proposal without your permission, so feel free to speak passionately and openly about your ideas. We will contact our winner and special awardees to agree any information that will be shared publically around the award shortly before the results are announced to the public.
Start your application →Not sure if you're ready to apply?
We hope that you will, but we also appreciate it can be daunting and the awards won't be for everyone. So please do reach out if you just want to say hello or have any questions.
If you do, this is a chance for you to shine, to meet like-minded people and join a community of change makers. The sensing network is a supportive arena where you can bounce your ideas off people, get advice, be introduced to new colleagues and a new audience. This is a chance to have your work exposed to the leading minds in foresight.
Start an exciting adventure with us!
Get in touch with the NGFP teamAbout the 2020 awards
We received over 200 applications from over 50 countries, from Argentina to Zimbabwe. The Joseph Jaworski Main Award was awarded to Raya Bidshahri, an Iranian living and working in the UAE, for her project to create alternative pathways for schooling and help people tackle and prepare for future challenges. We also awarded 17 Special Awards to outstanding applications from different sectors or geographies.
The Walkabout Prizes were won by Finn Strivens (UK), for his work using participatory methods to help young people and non-scientists to engage with science and Namatai Kwekweza (Zimbabwe) for her work to drive youth-friendly constitutional and governance reforms in Zimbabwe and disrupt ageist normative frameworks.
Read about the 2020 winnersAn initative of:
Supported by:
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