Announcing the Morality of Profit Competition
Winners
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS — The Social Equity Venture Fund — SEVEN — is pleased to announce the winners of its 2010 Morality of Profit essay competition. The winning essays were selected through a competitive review process that included a jury of published authors and experts in the realms of ethics and enterprise solutions to poverty. Entries were received from more than 2200 individuals in 88 countries.
The grand prize of $20,000 was awarded to Daniel Pallotta for his submission exploring the role of for-profit practices to meet public challenges. Mr. Pallotta is a leading expert on innovation in the nonprofit sector, founder of Pallotta TeamWorks which invented the multi-day AIDS Rides and Breast Cancer 3-Days, and author of the landmark book, Uncharitable.
The SEVEN Fund would also like to congratulate our second and third prize winners, Bradley Hobbs, a university professor, and Mary Halpine, a Canadian and former president of the World Youth Alliance. Mr. Hobbs’ essay, “My Father’s Drugstore,” is a collection of four vignettes explaining how his father taught him the lessons of morality, integrity, profit, and trust while operating a business in a small town. Ms. Halpine’s essay, “The Wisdom to Learn,” focuses on responsible profit-making, and her experiences of this notion in her travels throughout Nigeria, Rwanda, and other developing nations.
“These three essays represent outstanding examples of the essay form from the more than two thousand submissions,” said Michael Fairbanks, Director of the SEVEN Fund and Editor-in-Chief of the Morality of Profit project. “Dan’s essay was a tour-de-force, sharing his experiences pioneering a new model of social enterprise. Bradley’s essay was a brilliant example of the personal essay, with a sweetness and level of personal integration that impressed the jury. Mary’s piece is an excellent account of the experience of a young Westerner working in the developing world.”
In addition to our winners, SEVEN would also like to congratulate four Honorable Mentions: Joshua Ruxin in Rwanda, Paul Schwennesen in the State of Arizona, Nyla Nox in Thailand, and Blake Goud in the State of Oregon. The winners and honorable mentions will be invited to work with editors to publish their essays in the Morality of Profit book, due out in 2011. The top fifty authors are under consideration for additional slots in the book, together with thought leaders and branded experts in business, entertainment, science, and the academy, and will be notified by the editors later this Fall.
Winners Profiles:
Entrepreneurs create products, services and jobs. They expand economies, improve people's lives, provide employment (high and rising wages) and bring about competition. A competitive environment, in turn, gives rise to efficiency, meritocracy and further innovations and entrepreneurial drive.
The potent combination of entrepreneurship and technological innovation can forge an environment that is conducive to further enterprise, involving even government policy in supporting entrepreneurship and innovation.
