Grawemeyer Award in Psychology

The Grawemeyer Award is for a particular idea (or discovery) rather than a specific research project or overall career achievement.

Ideas are judged based on their originality, creativity, scientific merit, and breadth of impact on the field of psychology and beyond. Your 1-2 page nomination letter should address the award criteria.

Despite the importance of innovative ideas in psychology that the public ought to know about, our systems seldom reward these ideas directly or provide a platform to get them on the public agenda. The Grawemeyer Award seeks to fill exactly that gap, which makes it an award like no other.

Any psychologist(s) with a Grawemeyer-worthy idea are eligible. Nominees do not have to be full professors with endless accolades. On the contrary, this award recognizes a significant idea rather than a scholar’s oeuvre. We encourage nominations of psychology scholars from all career stages.

There are only three ineligibility conditions: 

1. Current or former University of Louisville faculty and staff cannot be nominated for the award (nor can they submit a nomination). 
2. Current University of Louisville students cannot be nominated for the award (nor can they submit a nomination). However, graduates from the University of Louisville are only eligible at least 5 years post-graduation. 
3. Previous winners cannot be nominated.

The Grawemeyer Award Committee of the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences will review the submissions and select 8 to 12 ideas for further consideration. These submissions will be forwarded to an external expert review panel with broad expertise in the field of psychology, who will select three submissions to be recommended to the University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award Committee, which consists of community members and UofL administrators. This committee will recommend the award winner to the President of the University, who will forward the recommendation to the Board of Trustees of the University. The Board of Trustees will grant the award.

 

Overview of the timeline for the 2028 award:

• August 2026 - February 2027
  • Colleagues submit nominations   
• February - April 2027
  • Nominees complete applications
• May - August 2027
  • PBS Internal Committee identifies semi-finalists
• September 2027
  • External Expert Panel identifies finalists 
• October 2027
  • Lay Panel identifies winner 
• December 2027
  • Board of Trustees approves winner and 2028 winner announced
• April 2028
  • Award celebration at University of Louisville

The winner of the 2028 award will be announced publicly in December 2027. In addition to requirements specified on the nominee agreement, acceptance of the award requires personal delivery of a public address at the University of Louisville that conveys the importance of the winning idea. Winners also participate for two to four days in community and campus events associated with the award ceremonies in March or April of the Award year.

The Grawemeyer Fund, housed at the University of Louisville, added psychology in 2001 to its distinguished list of awards categories. The University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Psychology is given annually and is accompanied by a prize of not less than $100,000.

The Grawemeyer award recognizes outstanding ideas in all areas of the discipline of Psychology. Nominations are judged on the basis of originality, creativity, scientific merit, and breadth of impact on the field of Psychology.

Charles Grawemeyer, an industrialist, engineer and entrepreneur from Louisville, Ky., had a life-long passion for music, education and religious studies. Consequently, he chose to honor ideas in the arts, humanities and sciences. Rather than rewarding recent or lifetime personal achievements, Grawemeyer wanted to recognize single powerful ideas or creative works.

Please send any questions or comments to Dr. Yara Mekawi, yara.mekawi@louisville.edu.