Pierre and I have written extensively about TED. Here's a reminder of the program from the TED website:

For the past 20 years, members of the TED community have gathered together to share ideas and passions that are big enough to change the world. In this spirit, we created... the TED Prize.

Each year we will honor a maximum of three individuals who have shown that they can, in some way, positively impact life on this planet.

We are looking for inventors and entrepreneurs, designers and artists, visionaries and mavericks, protectors and persuaders. Our goal is to honor and empower these people by connecting them to the formidable resources of the TED community. Our prize-winners may be very different, but they will have this in common: They will be doing something that has extraordinary potential. Something whose positive influence could spread, transcending borders. Something that can contribute to the future of life on earth.

Rather than simply receiving financial support, winners of the TED Prize will be granted something extraordinary: something which children dream about, but which adults assume is merely the stuff of fairy-tales.

They will be granted a WISH to change the world.

They may wish for anything. And we will seek to make their wish come true.

We will allow our winners several months in which to formulate their wish. We want them to think big, and we want them to fully understand the range of resources the TED Community may be able to offer them. We are willing to spend -- in hard cash -- $100,000 on each winner. And our goal is to convert this into received value that is an order of magnitude greater. How?

By connecting our winners into the heart of the TED community
By tapping into the enthusiastic support of our team of sponsors and partners
By working with our winners to deliver something creative and big and bold and wonderful.
The nominees themselves may or may not see themselves as world-changers. But it's our goal that the TED Prize will help them take their work to the next level.

So, with that background in mind, the 2007 winners have been announced.

1. James Nachtwey is one of the best-known and most highly regarded current photojournalists.... Nachtwey has devoted himself to documenting wars, conflicts and critical social issues. ...He is known for getting up close to his subjects, or as he says, "in the same intimate space that the subjects inhabit," and he passes that sense of closeness on to the viewer. In putting himself in the middle of conflict, James' intention is to record the truth, to document the struggles of humanity, and with this, to wake people up and stir them to action.

2. E. O. Wilson. One of the world's most distinguished scientists, E.O. Wilson is a university research professor and honorary curator in entomology at Harvard University. His most recent work has focused on drawing public attention to the impact human activity has had on life on the planet. ...he produced what may be his most important book, The Diversity of Life. In it he describes how an intricately interconnected natural system is threatened by a man-made biodiversity crisis he calls the "sixth extinction" — the most devastating trauma since the extinction event that laid waste the dinosaurs and other creatures 65 million years ago. In it he notes that the 1.5 million species named so far by scientists represent only a tiny fraction of the tens of millions that may be out there. Wilson's prediction that 30 percent to 50 percent of all species would be extinct by the middle of the 21st century was meant to provoke and it did. With the human population expected to reach 9-10bn by the end of the century and the planet in the middle of its sixth mass extinction — this time due to human activity — the next few years are critical in maintaining anything near the current level of biodiversity. Wilson believes, "The two major challenges for the 21st century are to improve the economic situation of the majority and save as much of the planet as we can."

3. President Bill Clinton. After leaving the White House, President Clinton established the William J. Clinton Foundation with the mission to strengthen the capacity of people in the United States and throughout the world to meet the challenges of global interdependence. To achieve this, the Clinton Foundation is focused on four critical areas: health security, with an emphasis on HIV/AIDS; economic empowerment; leadership development and citizen service; and racial, ethnic and religious reconciliation. In September 2006, President Clinton hosted the second annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative, which is a non-partisan catalyst for action, bringing together a community of global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world's most pressing challenges, including poverty, climate change, global health, and religious and racial conflict. In its two years of existence, the Clinton Global Initaitive has generated over $10 billion in commitments to improve the lives of people living on 6 continents.

Pierre and I can't wait to see what amazing plans they bring back to the TED community and how the community responds. This is philanthropy at its best! We will keep you updated.

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive