As director of the TED Prize, it's been hard to keep secret the wish of 2012 TED Prize winner -- the City 2.0.

But Wednesday night, we revealed the wish to those at TED -- and to all the people around the world who streamed in.

Beyond words,...

Tonight's TED Prize session is the only to be live streamed from TED -- to anyone in the world who wants to watch. TUNE IN from 5-6:45pm Pacific as we reveal two major announcements and celebrate the achievements of remarkable TED Prize winners.

In 2009, Jill...

In 2009, Dr. Sylvia Earle made her Ted Prize wish to do anything we can to create awareness of the need for marine protected areas to save and restore the ocean.

In response, 100 scientists, conservationists, advocates, artists, and concerned citizens set sail for a week in the...

This year, the TED Prize is going in an exciting and different direction. Rather than granting the Prize to a single person, we're giving it to an idea: the City 2.0.

Last year we challenged the artist JR to make a wish to change the world, and with...

Since the TED Prize winner JR announced his wish in March to turn the world Inside Out, thousands of people have participated in what we hope will be the world's largest participatory art project.

From every corner of the planet, people have uploaded their personal...

Each year we award the TED Prize to an exceptional individual who is making a difference in the world -- and we grant this recipient one wish. This isn't just an ordinary wish, but a wish that allows them to dig deeper, activate people across the globe, and truly change...

When 2009 TED Prize winner Jill Tarter wished to "empower Earthlings everywhere to become active participants in the ultimate search for cosmic company," we looked to the SETI Institute's Allen Telescope Array (ATA).

With this telescope, Jill's vision, and the power of open-source initiatives, we were able to...

The TED Prize offices have been full of anticipation and energy as we prepared for this announcement. The winner of the 2011 TED Prize is someone you may not know, but once you see his mind blowing creations and learn about his work, I have no doubt you...

At a time when religious intolerance is creeping into public consciousness, now is an important moment to highlight Karen Armstrong, who won the TED Prize in 2008, and then made her wish to create a Charter for Compassion.

To be specific, this is a charter...

The world's oceans are in trouble. They've become a dumping ground for pollutants; acidity levels are on the rise. 90 percent of the big fish have disappeared. Destructive fishing practices are killing countless numbers of marine mammals each year. Although environmental groups have done impressive work toward making the world...

As TED Prize director, I'm delighted to announce our TED Prize winner for 2010: a chef, writer, social entrepreneur and restauranteur who's transforming the way we feed our children and ourselves: Jamie Oliver.

Jamie has been a tireless crusader in his effort to focus the world's attention on better...

Today, the culmination of more than a year's work was unveiled as the Charter for Compassion was officially introduced in Washington, D.C. The Charter is the direct result of Karen Armstrong's 2008 TED Prize wish to establish a document that would define anew the ancient principles of...

This Sunday, as part of the three-day World Peace Through Personal Peace Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, His Holiness the Dalai Lama will join TED Prize winner Karen Armstrong for the official launch of the Charter for Compassion website, www.charterforcompassion.org.

Using the website as a starting...

By now, the variety and scope of the TED Prize wishes we are helping bring to reality is well-known. But Jill Tarter's 2009 wish -- "to empower Earthlings everywhere to become active participants in the ultimate search for cosmic company" -- expands that scope out into the vastness of...

When Karen Armstrong won one of the three 2008 TED Prizes, we knew her wish -- to create a worldwide Charter for Compassion -- was a powerful one with the potential to develop into an innovative and international movement. As the final document is being crafted, we are starting to...

I've recently returned from Oxford, England, from a remarkable four days at the first annual TEDGlobal conference, "The Substance of Things Not Seen," once again inspired by TED's extraordinary speakers and the impressive range of their ideas and experiences.

As TED Prize director, I'm gratified by the...

For the majority of the world's children, the opportunity to learn about music -- with all the intellectual and emotional benefits music brings -- is just not a part of their world. Unless they happen to live in Venezuela. There, for the last 34 years, the visionary musician, economist, and...

James Nachtwey won the TED Prize in 2007 because of his amazing work as a war photographer -- he's gone to Northern Ireland, the Sudan, South Africa, Afghanistan, all over the world to shoot wars and human rights crises. He captures human suffering in order to expose the world to...