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Amy Novogratz is the Director of the TED Prize, an initiative of the TED Conference. The TED Prize is awarded annually to three exceptional individuals who each receive $100,000, a wish to change the world and support in making the wish come true. Past TED Prize winners include Bono, Dr. Larry Brilliant, former President Bill Clinton, writer Dave Eggers, and religious historian Karen Armstrong.

Prior to joining TED, Amy worked in television production giving voices to youth who don't usually have a platform -- from documentaries for the Disney Channel on young people living with HIV, learning differences and body image issues to specials, sketch comedy, animation and interstitials for Nickelodeon, Noggin's The N, Oxygen, MTV and World Link. This lead to years of developing and producing Chat the Planet, a TV and web initiative that connects young people from around the world to talk about everything from politics, prejudices and war to sex, music and life in general. Amy spent the early part of her career in Washington, DC, where she helped start up the Social Policy Action Network, a nonprofit that bridges the gap between journalists, academics, policy makers and grassroots initiatives.

Blog Entries by Amy Novogratz

Introducing the 2010 TED Prize Winner

Posted December 23, 2009 | 11:39 AM (EST)


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...

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The Charter For Compassion: Read, Affirm, Share

Posted November 11, 2009 | 03:17 PM (EST)


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...

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New Charter for Compassion Website to Launch Sunday

Posted September 23, 2009 | 05:19 PM (EST)


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...

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Searching for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe

1 Comments | Posted September 9, 2009 | 02:53 PM (EST)


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...

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Chautauqua Institution Spotlights Compassion

1 Comments | Posted August 17, 2009 | 02:26 PM (EST)


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...

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Charter for Compassion to Be Introduced in September

Posted July 30, 2009 | 02:54 PM (EST)


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...

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El Sistema Comes to the USA

2 Comments | Posted May 15, 2009 | 05:50 PM (EST)


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...

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Help Us Break a Vital Story

Posted October 3, 2008 | 05:46 PM (EST)


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...

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