Peace First is a national nonprofit organization that exists to create the next generation of peacemakers. They view children as natural problem solvers and creative thinkers, and invest in their ability to see themselves as leaders.

Peace First (formerly Peace Games) began as an annual festival to unite children to play cooperative games and share their visions for peace. Dr. Francelia Butler, a professor of children’s literature, created the festival out of a belief that children had the responsibility to create peace in their world. In 1992, Dr. Butler brought the festival to Harvard University, where it grew from an annual event into an independent non-profit organization under the leadership of current Peace First President and Co-founder, Eric Dawson. In 2000, with Boston as a flagship site, Peace First now operates in Boston, Los Angeles, and New York, with requests for our work from all over the world.

Today, what began as a one-day festival is a now a national movement that Peace First is catalyzing to celebrate young people and their potential to create positive change around them. Our work is grounded in teaching young people the skills of peacemaking; empowering educators and parents to teach and model these skills and values; and creating social messages that raise expectations for young people to demonstrate compassion and empathy.

Peace First wants to learn about as many youth peacemakers as they can. To do that, they’ve created two ways to hear these stories. As a young person, you can apply for the Peace First Prize directly using the online application! Video submissions are encouraged! As an adult or peer, you can also nominate someone using the nomination form. Keep in mind that youth nominated by someone else must still fill out an application in order to be considered for the Prize. They will receive one automatically once they are nominated.

The application is simple. It asks applicants for some background information and what they’ve done to be peacemakers. The application deadline is Monday, March 17, 2014 at 5:00pm EST. After all application are reviewed, select applicants will be invited to submit semi-finalist applications. Peace First staff will review these applications to confirm semi-finalists. From our confirmed semi-finalists, Peace First will deeply review semi-finalist applications and collect additional information from candidates in order to select a group of finalists.

For more information on the selection process, check out this page. Criteria can be found here. If you have any questions, take a look at the FAQ page.