The PEP application will officially open on December 4th, 2024.
Intended to strengthen Penn's commitment to impactful global, national, and local student engagement, the President’s Engagement Prizes will provide recipients with up to $150,000 ($50,000 for living expenses for each student recipient, plus up to $100,000 for project implementation expenses) to develop and implement a promising local, national, or global engagement project during the year after graduation. (Collaborative projects will be welcome with up to three awardees for a collaborative team project.)
The competition will be open to traditional undergraduates in good academic standing in the College, Engineering, Nursing, Wharton, or LPS who have completed at least three-quarters of the credits needed for their first baccalaureate degree and who are scheduled to graduate in December 2024, May 2025, or August 2025. This year’s application deadline is January 22, 2025. A winner will be announced in April.
As announced in November 2021, Penn is expanding the current President’s Engagement and Innovation Prizes for graduating seniors to include a new prize category designated specifically as the President’s Sustainability Prize. All sustainability-focused project proposals that are submitted as part of the standard President’s Engagement Prize and President’s Innovation Prize application process will automatically be considered for the President’s Sustainability Prize. There is no separate application process for the President’s Sustainability Prize.
To assist those who are considering applying for the 2025 President’s Engagement Prize, we will be hosting a series of information sessions with former Prize recipients. These sessions are excellent opportunities to learn more about the Prizes and hear directly from recent graduates who were in your position just a short time ago.
Information sessions will be held as follows (all times in EST):
- Wednesday, December 4, 4-5 p.m. with Chicago Furniture Bank (2018 President’s Engagement Prize recipient)
- Friday, December 6, 3-4 p.m. with Cosmic Writers(2022 President’s Engagement Prize recipient)
- Tuesday, December 10, 4-5 p.m. with The Community Grocer(2022 President’s Sustainability Prize recipient – Engagement track)
We encourage you to attend, even if you are simply interested in learning more at this point. The Zoom link for each session will be: https://upenn.zoom.us/j/92839960673?pwd=bqLRz6Y8KFQ1cYylINg5BrITU2WVBD.1.
We ask that you please sign up in advance.
During information sessions, you will learn more about former Prize recipients, insights into their experience with the Prizes, how they have brought impact through their work, and have an opportunity to ask questions that you may have.
While underclassmen are most welcome to attend these virtual sessions, a reminder that eligibility for the 2024 Prizes is limited to Penn seniors graduating in December 2024, May 2025, or August 2025. If you have additional questions, please feel free to email pennpep@upenn.edu.
Here are 2025 Joint PEP/PIP Information Session Slides (PDF). Watch a 2025 Information Session here.
Here is a PDF presentation by the Penn Tax Office on the implications of the prize.
Students should first settle on a Project and a Team. In addition to the basic design of your project, you should consider the tax implications for receiving an Engagement Prize. Once you have finalized your Proposal, you will submit the full application materials here.
For joint projects, teams complete only one application form fully describing the team’s proposed project, and each team member must provide one Letter of Recommendation in addition to the team’s Project Mentor Form and Letter. Additional team members will request their own letters of recommendation once they have been added as collaborators by the primary applicant. Please complete this initial form as soon as you have your team, mentor, and recommenders finalized —this will provide everyone with the necessary time to complete their portions of the process.
Item 1 - Project Proposal
Please answer the following questions in as much detail as possible. Maximum word counts are provided in parentheses following each question:
- Title page with your project title, student name(s), school(s), and expected graduation month(s)/year(s)
- Describe your proposed project. What is its overall purpose and how will you accomplish it? (400 words)
- What experiences (coursework, research, involvement in extracurricular activities, etc.) do you have that are relevant to your proposed project, as well as to local, national, or global engagement more generally? (250 words)
- What will be accomplished if your project is implemented successfully? How will you measure success? (200 words)
- How will you work with your project mentor to achieve your stated goals? (100 words)
Item 2 - Budget Plan
Please see template: Budget Planning Template
- Attach your completed budget planning form using the template
- On a separate page, please describe in no more than 500 words how you will use your project budget to help you achieve your stated goals. Be as specific as possible in describing how you would utilize your project funds.
Item 3 - Other Materials
Please prepare the following for submission:
- A one-page resume/CV for each member
- An unofficial Penn transcript for each member
- Recommendation letters for each member
- Project Mentor Commitment and Mentor Letter of Support
- Note: Only Penn faculty members or Penn administrators may serve as Project Mentors for President’s Engagement Prize projects. President’s Engagement Prize mentors agree to mentor applicants for the President’s Engagement Prize during the preparation of their prize proposal. This includes advising the students on the design of the project and preparation of the initial proposal during the Fall of their senior year. If the proposal is selected for the Prize, mentors and recipients will work together during the spring semester to develop a detailed plan for project implementation, finalize the budget, obtain any necessary third-party commitments and preparatory arrangements, and refer the student(s) to other individuals or resources as needed in developing their project.
- President’s Engagement Prize mentors may—but are not required to—continue to mentor recipient(s) of the President’s Engagement Prize during the project implementation year (i.e., the year immediately following their graduation from Penn).
- Once the student applies, the Project Mentor will receive an email with a link where they will upload a signed letter of recommendation on letterhead. Detailed instructions for recommendation letters can be found in the Application (linked above).
*Optional* Signed letters of preliminary interest/commitment from each proposed partner organization and/or institution with whom you intend to work