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Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise

The Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise support emerging to mid-career immigrant professionals who have demonstrated exceptional achievements early in their careers.

  • Young immigrant research scientists and artists are welcome to apply
  • $50,000 cash award
  • Applications are open through June 11, 2021

Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science

Silvi Rouskin points to a scientific equipment monitor while a lab student looks on.

  • Three prizes of $50,000
  • Foreign-born research scientists whose work exemplifies outstanding scientific accomplishment and represents a significant contribution to their area of research
  • Application deadline: June 11, 2021, 5pm ET

Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Dance

A dancer extends arm in a dance pose.

  • Three prizes of $50,000
  • Immigrant dancers, choreographers, and artistic directors whose work demonstrates a significant contribution to dance and movement arts in the United States
  • Application deadline: June 11, 2021, 5pm ET

Selection Process

Three winners are selected in each category through an application process juried by panels of experts in each field.

The Creative Promise Prizewinners each receive a $50,000 cash award and are honored at an awards ceremony in New York City.

Meet the 2021 Creative Promise Prizewinners

Mohamed Abou Donia

Mohamed Abou Donia receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for demonstrating the potential of the human microbiome as a source of novel drugs and uncovering the basis of microbiome-driven drug metabolism.

Ibrahim Cissé

Ibrahim Cissé receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for using super-resolution biological imaging to directly visualize the dynamic nature of gene expression in living cells.

Silvi Rouskin

Silvi Rouskin receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for developing methods to unravel the shapes of RNA molecules inside cells and aiding the potential development of RNA-based therapeutics.

Juan Pablo González

Juan Pablo González receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Filmmaking for the artistic rigor and deep emotional engagement that he brings to his immersive and intimate explorations of his hometown in rural Mexico.

Miko Revereza

Miko Revereza receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Filmmaking for the ingenuity and urgency with which he bridges the personal and the political, in works that challenge us to rethink aspects of both documentary filmmaking and the immigrant experience.

Nanfu Wang

Nanfu Wang receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Filmmaking for the impact and courage of her riveting documentaries, which are lucid and unflinching in confronting the consequences of systemic oppression and corruption in China.