Christopher Columbus Coin Image

Christopher Columbus Foundation Award

The Discoveries at Work program (1996-2001) was kicked off in 1996 when the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation awarded the first $100,000 Christopher Columbus Foundation Award in conjunction with the annual Discover Magazine Innovation Awards. The award recognized an individual American who had improved, or was attempting to improve the world through ingenuity and innovation, and to provide incentive and opportunity for continuing research.

Discover Magazine, a science and technology publication, reaches more than 6.4 million readers per month. The magazine was founded in 1980 by Time, Inc. and was purchased by the Walt Disney Company in 1991. Each year Discover acknowledges the creativity of men, women, corporations and institutions who have reached superior levels of ingenuity in several categories of scientific exploration. The year 1996 marked the seventh year Discover sponsored the awards.

In 2002 the Foundation restructured its programs to initiate its new Frontiers of Discovery- -Work in Progress and Discover the Future programs. The Foundation has discontinued the Discoveries at Work and Discoveries of the Past programs and has initiated a new Work in Progress program, which rewards "cutting edge" innovation. Please see the links to the new program pages.

Nominations
The Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation received all the entries in all categories in the Discover Awards competition. To be consider for the Foundation's $100,000 Christopher Columbus Foundation Award the nominees must be United States citizens.

Selection Process
Discover and the Foundation had separate judging criteria. The Foundation's Board of Trustees read through all entries and selected the semifinalists. The semifinalists were sent to a panel of expert Evaluators. The Evaluators ranked the semifinalists and ultimately selected a finalist in each category. The finalist in each category was sent back to the Foundation's Board of Trustees for the selection of $100,000 Christopher Columbus Foundation Award Columbus Scholar. The award was intended to provide incentive for the winner to continue work on the innovation.

Evaluation Committee
Each year, the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation is honored to have had the assistance of distinguished individuals serving on the Christopher Columbus Foundation Award Evaluation Committee. Each year's committee is listed on the page linked to that specific year.

Awards Ceremony
From 1996 - 2000 the Discover Awards ceremony and banquet were held at Epcot® in Walt Disney World® in Orlando, Florida. In 2001 the Discover Awards breakfast ceremony was held at the Manhattan Center in New York City. Each year, winners in each category, and the $100,000 Christopher Columbus Foundation Award Columbus Scholar, received a Tiffany crystal statue and were featured in a special issue of Discover Magazine.