The international Essl Social Prize was founded in 2007 by Martin and Gerda Essl, owners of the Austrian home improvement company

bauMax The Baumax AG (own spelling: ''bauMax'') was an Austrian chain of home improvement stores. It was founded in 1976 by Karlheinz Essl Sr. in the city of Klosterneuburg and operated more than 150 stores in Austria and several countries of Eastern ...

. The prize was awarded annually by the Essl Foundation between 2008 and 2012, and once again in 2013/14. It supported projects developed by

social entrepreneurs Social entrepreneurship is an approach by individuals, groups, start-up companies or entrepreneurs, in which they develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. This concept may be applied to a wide range of o ...

and prize winners were awarded 1,000,000 Euros prize money. The Essl Social Prize was discontinued in 2015 following a period of significant losses for bauMax.

Prize winners

* 2008 – Father Georg Sporschill, for the "Casa Abraham" project in

Ploiești Ploiești ( , , ), formerly spelled Ploești, is a city and county seat in Prahova County, Romania. Part of the historical region of Muntenia, it is located north of Bucharest. The area of Ploiești is around , and it borders the Blejoi commu ...

, Romania; providing shelter and vocational training for young people who are homeless. * 2009 – Szekeres Tiborné, creator of the foundation "For Equal Opportunity", devoted to housing and employment for people who are disabled. * 2010 –

Bill Drayton William Drayton (born 1943) is an American social entrepreneur. Drayton was named by ''U.S. News & World Report'' as one of America's 25 Best Leaders in 2005. He is responsible for the rise of the phrase "social entrepreneur", a concept first f ...

, founder of

Ashoka Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, ...

, for the Ashoka Globalizer project and his life's work. * 2011 –

Karlheinz Böhm Karlheinz Böhm (16 March 1928 – 29 May 2014) was an Austrian-German actor and philanthropist. He took part in 45 films and became well known in Austria and Germany for his role as Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria in the Sissi film trilogy a ...

and Almaz Böhm for the project '' Menschen für Menschen''Essl Social Prize an "Menschen für Menschen"
on ORF, 26 March 2011 * 2012 – Father Wolfgang Pucher and the

St. Vincent de Paul Vincent de Paul, CM (24 April 1581 – 27 September 1660), commonly known as Saint Vincent de Paul, was a Occitan French Catholic priest who dedicated himself to serving the poor. In 1622 Vincent was appointed a chaplain to the galleys. Afte ...

for their work on homelessness, including the introduction of the "Housing First" model to Salzburg * 2013 – Thorkil Sonne for

Specialisterne Specialisterne (The Specialists) is a Danish social innovator company using the characteristics of people with autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs) including autism and Asperger syndrome as competitive advantages in the business market. Specialist ...

, a social enterprise that supports people with autism to enter competitive employment by helping them identify their unique skills and matching them to relevant companies.

References

{{reflist Awards for contributions to society Awards established in 2007 Austrian awards

Prize winners

See also

References