The Templeton Prize "each year honors a living person who has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life’s breadth of spiritual dimensions, whether through insight, discovery, or practical works." The monetary value is always set above that of the Nobel Prize because Templeton believes that "benefits from discoveries that illuminate spiritual questions can be quantifiably more vast than those from other worthy human endeavors."
One of my heroes, Jean Vanier, the creator of L'Arche, has won the Templeton Prize for his "advocacy of belonging." If you don't know about this man, you need to. I'll give you some links and encourage you to check them out:
Templeton Prize Winner
Vanier's Acceptance Speech
To become fully human is to let down the barriers, to open up and discover that every person is beautiful. Under all the jobs you’re doing, responsibilities, there is you,” Vanier answers, adding, “And you, at the heart of who you are, you’re somebody also crying out, ‘does somebody love me?’ Not just for what I can do, but for who I am."
