Date: Mar 09, 2007

HOFSTRA ACCEPTING NOMINATIONS FOR GURU NANAK INTERFAITH PRIZE

$50,000 international prize to be awarded in 2008 for efforts to promote interfaith dialogue

Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY - Hofstra University is now accepting applications for the Guru Nanak Interfaith Prize for individuals or groups who promote interfaith dialogue.

The prize, in the amount of $50,000, will be awarded biannually beginning in 2008 to an individual or organization chosen by a distinguished panel of judges composed of religious leaders, academics and individuals known for their commitment to interfaith dialogue. Award recipients will have demonstrated extraordinary leadership, courage and a capacity for inspiring in others a willingness to embrace the vulnerability that is the key to true religious dialogue. The deadline for the 2008 prize is July 1, 2007.

The goal of this international award is to bring greater visibility to the critical role that religious dialogue plays in the pursuit of peace and to provide direct support for the furtherance of such activities. As the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak taught that we locate our oneness with humanity by exploring the differences that separate us.

The prize was funded by a generous gift from the family of Ishar Singh Bindra and will be awarded by Hofstra in collaboration with the Sardarni Kuljit Kaur Bindra Charitable Foundation.

The honorary committee for the prize consists of the Hon. I.K. Gujral, former prime minister of India; Nobel Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu; the Hon. Charles Schumer and the Hon. Norm Coleman, U.S. senators; Rabbi David Rosen, director of the Department of Interreligious Affairs for the American Jewish Committee; Dr. Martin Marty of The Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School; Mr. Khushwant Singh, historian and journalist; and Mr.Tarlochan Singh, Member of Parliament, India.

More information is available at www.hofstra.edu/gurunanak or by sending an e-mail to GuruNanakPrize@hofstra.edu.

Hofstra University is a dynamic private institution where students find their edge to succeed in more than 140 undergraduate and 155 graduate programs in liberal arts and sciences, business, communication, education and allied human services, and honors studies, and a School of Law.