Press Releases for Creativity in Motion 2005 Award
$40,000 Award for Creative Process Announces Call for Entries
Nominations for the biennial $40,000 Creativity in Motion/Thatcher Hoffman Smith Prize honoring the creative process are being sought by the University of Oklahoma College of Arts and Sciences. This prize was established in 2002 to recognize and encourage the process of creativity as it unfolds and is expressed by individuals in diverse ways.
“This award has changed my life,” says 2003 recipient Elizabeth Ingraham, an attorney, educator and sculptor from Lincoln, Neb. “First, it affords me the resources and time I need for my work to flourish. But just as importantly, it affirms that my work -- like all creative work -- does have the power to transform the world. Creativity is a technology that is necessary for the vitality of our society. Now more than ever, we need the creative imagination.”
Oklahoma City supporter and Creativity in Motion founder Jeanne Hoffman Smith says she established the award to further society’s awareness of and focus on this important and often underexplored area. “The goal of the prize is to stimulate a better understanding of the creative process itself and to motivate creative individuals to develop their own original ideas into projects,” she says. “We are excited to announce the second submission round of this biennial prize.”
OU administers the $40,000, “no-strings-attached” prize. Says OU President David Boren, “The Thatcher Hoffman Smith Prize reflects a growing need to financially and culturally support our country’s original thinkers. The fact that a university with OU’s tradition of academic excellence is home to such a generous and forward-thinking concept makes me very proud. It’s a natural partnership.”
In its inaugural year, the prize drew comparisons to the well-known MacArthur Fellowship -- unofficially known as the “MacArthur genius grant” -- because of the winner’s freedom to use the funds in any way he or she sees fit. Unlike the MacArthur Fellowship, however, Thatcher Hoffman Smith Prize nominees are welcome to self-submit applications, making the nomination process open to all.
“Creative thinkers -- be they artists or scientists -- could consider the Thatcher Hoffman Smith Prize a younger sibling to the MacArthur genius grant,” says Louisa McCune, editor in chief of Oklahoma Today magazine. “The mark this prize will make over the next several decades promises to be significant. I can only hope that our best thinkers will enter the application process and let their work be noticed.”
Submission Information
Through self-nomination or nomination by another, submissions are open to all fields of creativity, including, but not limited to, the arts, cultural affairs, education, and science. Submission forms are available online at http://cim.ou.edu or from the OU College of Arts and Sciences office at (405) 325-2347. Applications must be postmarked by midnight Jan. 15, 2005. The prize will be awarded and the 2005 recipient honored on Sunday, April 10, 2005.
About Creativity in Motion
The Creativity in Motion/Thatcher Hoffman Smith Prize, established in 2002, is funded through the generous contributions of Oklahoma City supporter Jeanne Hoffman Smith. This biennial award, dedicated to recognizing, honoring and encouraging the creative process, is a collaborative effort with OU’s College of Arts and Sciences. The prize awards an unrestricted sum of $40,000 to an individual whose work demonstrates original thinking and the promise of continuing creative work. It celebrates a visionary work in process, recognizing the potential power of its original expression to affect and enrich the world around us. The work or project must be under way at the time of application. Named to honor Jeanne Hoffman Smith’s mother and father, Grace Thatcher and Roy Hoffman Jr., this unrestricted award is unique in its lack of parameters.
See releases from the 2003 Thatcher Hoffman Smith Award.