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Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise

The Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise were established in 2009 as a complement to the Vilcek Prizes, to encourage and support emerging to mid-career immigrant artists and scientists who have demonstrated exceptional achievements early in their careers. As with the Vilcek Prizes, the Creative Promise Prizes are awarded annually in biomedical science and in a rotating category of the arts — in 2021, in filmmaking.

2021 Creative Promise Prizewinners in Biomedical Science

2021 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science

Mohamed Abou Donia

Born in Egypt
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.
Mohamed Abou Donia, donning a lab coat, in his science lab.
2021 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science

Ibrahim Cissé

Born in Niger
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.
Ibrahim Cissé, wearing a tan suit, against a white backdrop.
2021 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science

Silvi Rouskin

Born in Bulgaria
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.
Silvi Rouskin in her lab against a backdrop of periodicals and scientific publications.

2021 Creative Promise Prizewinners in Filmmaking

2021 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Filmmaking

Juan Pablo González

Born in Mexico
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.
Juan Pablo González in a gray shirt sitting outdoors.
2021 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Filmmaking

Miko Revereza

Born in the Phillipines
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.
Miko Revereza, wearing a blue jacket and red turtleneck, sitting against a neutral gray background.
2021 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Filmmaking

Nanfu Wang

Born in China
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.
Nanfu Wang, in a black dress, pictured against a neutral white background.

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.

A photo of the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise certificates.

3 Prizes

are awarded in Biomedical Science
Learn more about the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science

3 Prizes

are awarded in the arts and humanities
Learn more about the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Filmmaking

2020 Creative Promise Prizewinners

2020 Creative Promise Prizewinners

Kivanç Birsoy

Kıvanç Birsoy receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for developing cutting-edge tools to unravel the altered metabolism of cancer cells and uncovering molecular targets for treatment.

Viviana Gradinaru

Viviana Gradinaru receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for developing next-generation tools in optogenetics, tissue clearing, and gene delivery, with potential therapeutic applications in human diseases.

Martin Jonikas

Martin Jonikas receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for molecular studies on Chlamydomonas, a model photosynthetic organism, with long-term implications for improving food-crop yield and combating climate change.

Yaa Gyasi

Yaa Gyasi receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Literature for deeply engaging writing that unites the twin arcs of West African and African American history, and for her relentless examination of injustices of the past and present in "Homegoing" (2016).

Valeria Luiselli

Valeria Luiselli receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Literature for intelligent, distinctive fiction and nonfiction that interrogates the United States’ immigration system, and bears witness to those left voiceless by mass deportation.

Jenny Xie

Jenny Xie receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Literature for the construction of a unique poetic voice that—in its play and invention—examines the essence of perspective and selfhood through an evocative lens in "Eye Level" (2018).