InterVarsity’s Graduate & Faculty Ministries (GFM) sponsored the Bosscher-Hammond Prizes, a juried competition culminating during the Following Christ 2008 Conference (FC08), December 27-31, in Chicago.

Three winning submissions received $2,000 in cash and recognition during the conference. Twenty-six semifinalists will received free registration for the main FC08 conference, December 28-31.

Read about the finalists in this press release.

The submission process is currently closed.

For a video introduction, please watch this brief film:

What is the purpose of this competition?

The purpose of the Bosscher-Hammond Prize Competition is to encourage the integration of faith, learning, and practice — one of InterVarsity’s core values — and to demonstrate how the academic disciplines and professions can contribute to human flourishing.

Those in the universities and professions have been given a precious gift: the ability to contribute in extraordinary, even unique, ways to human well-being. Such contributions can and should be multiplied, their stories told, and their principles advanced in all the disciplines and professions. We wish to challenge conference delegates to think of what they might accomplish in our culture if they thought of their academic and professional work in terms of its godly contribution to human flourishing.

For a working understanding of human flourishing, please read the conference thematic overview.

Specifically, InterVarsity’s GFM is holding this competition in order to:

1. Foster the integration of faith, learning, and practice within the academic and professional disciplines
2. Encourage the development of human flourishing (the theme of FC08) among academics and professionals and, through them, among all people
3. Develop skills, nurture creativity, and encourage dreaming regarding best practices within the disciplines
4. Integrate biblical, theological, and discipline-specific theory with practice
5. Facilitate mutual encouragement and challenge among delegates of FC08

Why is this competition called the “Bosscher-Hammond Prizes”?

Peter Bosscher, professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, passed away on November 18, 2007. Peter attended Calvin College as an undergraduate and then went on to the University of Michigan where he received his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering in 1981. From Ann Arbor he moved with his family to Madison, where he taught civil and environmental engineering at the University of Wisconsin. While his professional expertise was in geotechnical engineering and civil engineering materials, his career was defined by a passion for helping people. In 2003 he initiated a chapter of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It was the joy of his professional life to see engineering students transformed as they used their skills and energy to make a difference in Ecuador, Costa Rica, Thailand, and Rwanda.

Pete Hammond is a retired senior staff member and vice president at-large with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA. He led its Ministry In Daily Life Resource Group, formerly known as Marketplace. He was a pioneer of evangelism and ethnic ministries within InterVarsity and launched a ministry to students headed for the secular marketplace. His work with Marketplace resulted in numerous products aimed at graduating collegians and “marketplace Christians.” These have included the award-winning Word in Life Study Bible (published by Thomas Nelson), ten years of hosting the national “Marketplace Voices” daily radio program, and launching two marketplace newsletters.

Both Peter Bosscher and Pete Hammond have committed their lives to the integration of faith, learning, and practice. It is our privilege to name the Bosscher-Hammond Prizes in their honor and to commit them to the glory of the God they have served so faithfully.

Thanks for participating in the Bosscher-Hammond Prize Competition. We enjoyed seeing your entries!