YOUNG INNOVATOR AWARDS

About Young Innovators

Young Innovator awards are targeted specifically to innovators aged 18-25. These awards will support smaller-scale, forward-thinking, conceptually exciting and original participatory learning projects.

The aim of this category is to encourage young innovators to think boldly about “what comes next” in participatory learning and to contribute to making it happen. These awards are designed to support young innovators in bringing their most visionary ideas from the “garage” stage to implementation.

 

Young Innovator Awards

Young Innovator awards consist of two components:

1. Support for project development, including the awardee’s independent work on the proposed idea, and
2. An internship with a sponsoring organization that would be beneficial to the awardee’s project. Internships can involve physical placement with a sponsoring organization or a mentoring relationship maintained by other means, including online communication.

The project and internship should complement one another. Winners will develop their projects over the course of the entire grant term, a period of one year.

The internship will occur at any time within the grant term, so that winners may be working on their projects prior to, during, and/or after their internships, depending on the internship schedule. The internship must be between 10 weeks and one year in duration, depending on what is appropriate for the awardee and project. Interns will not be paid by the sponsoring organization and must support themselves during the internship period with the Young Innovator award or other funds. Funds from the award cannot be used to subsidize mentoring and/or placement with a sponsoring organization.

Applicants may either propose to arrange their own internships (and will be asked to describe such arrangements in full in their applications), or they can suggest more generally the kinds of internships, including the names of specific organizations, that would be most useful in advancing their projects. These might include placements and/or the establishment of mentoring relationships in technology companies, media industries, nonprofits, learning institutions, or governmental organizations. After the winners are selected, HASTAC will work to place individuals who have not arranged their own internships. Although HASTAC will attempt to find the best match for each winner, awardees are advised that they might not receive their first-choice placement. Applicants who arrange their own internships must secure an official endorsement from a sponsoring organization.

Applicants should consider carefully what kind of internship would be most suitable to advance their participatory learning project. This would include what kind of organization or company would be most beneficial to them and to their projects.

• Applicants with a very clear plan for an internship, perhaps through an established relationship with a sponsor organization, should describe the internship arrangement specifically in the proposal and arrange for a letter of recommendation from that organization to be submitted with the application.
• Applicants who do not have established working relationships with organizations or companies where they wish to be sponsored are asked not to contact the organization. In this case, applicants are encouraged to research the organizations in which they are interested and to envision a mutually beneficial internship arrangement, describing this in as much detail as possible on the application.

Whether the internship involves physical placement or not, each sponsoring organization will be asked to appoint a principal mentor to work with the awardee. The mentor should supervise the internship and assist the awardee in taking advantage of resources at the sponsoring institution that could help move the intern’s project to implementation.

 

Young Innovator Details

Awards will range from $5,000 to $30,000. Up to $240,000 will be awarded in total.

To be eligible, applicants must be individuals aged 18-25 at the time of application. Applicants must be legal U.S. residents whose principal place of residence is in the U.S.

In all cases, regardless of the award amount, the grant term is one year beginning between June 1, 2009 and September 1, 2009. An internship lasting 10 weeks to one year must occur within the period of the grant term. The internship should not extend beyond the grant term unless mutually agreed with the sponsoring organization; however, no award funds will be distributed after the close of the grant term.

Budgets will be scrutinized as part of the selection process. Applicants are advised to submit realistic, moderate budgets.

Budgets may include both the costs of project development and living expenses as necessary. Items to be budgeted for project development may include software, hardware, or consultation. Living expenses to allow work on the project are also appropriate. As the internship is unpaid, award funds should be budgeted accordingly for living and/or moving expenses during that period. Applicants are also required to budget for airfare (or other transportation), transfers, lodging and meals for a two-day “showcase” event in Chicago to be held at the end of the grant term.

All potential applicants should read the complete Guidelines before applying.