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What are the wages of virtue?
Danny Heitman Wins $10,000 In Character Prize for Editorial and Opinion Writing
-Saluting Christian Science Monitor Column about Daily Gratitude-
West Conshohocken, PA (October 22, 2007) – Danny Heitman is the winner of the second annual In Character Prize for editorial and opinion writing about the human virtues, presented at an October 18th ceremony at New York City's Yale Club. The Louisiana-native won the $10,000 prize for his essay Danny Heitman (Baton Rouge, LA) for "Daily thanksgiving is worth the work", originally published in the November 22, 2006 edition of the Christian Science Monitor (also the publisher of last year's winning essay).
Heitman writes the weekly "At Random" column for The Advocate of Baton Rouge, which has twice been named Best Regular Column by the Louisiana Press Association. Heitman's writing has also won awards from the Associated Press.
"Annual columns implore Americans to mark Thanksgiving every day of the year, but Danny surpasses that trope as he relates his own family's struggle to be inspired and creative about gratitude," said Kimon Sargeant, vice president of human sciences for the John Templeton Foundation, which sponsors the prizes. "His essay challenges us to make the effort to give thanks and to see that 'a half-empty glass is also richly half full.'"
Asked to reflect on his favorite virtue, Heitman invoked his favorite children's book, Charlotte's Web: "Gratitude, White reminds us, has the power to save a pig, but also the power to save us–to restore our sense of awe, reclaim our priorities, and honor what is most precious before it slips from our grasp."
The other two finalists for the In Character Prize, and recipients of a $5,000 Honorable Mention, are:
- Mark Douglas (Atlanta, GA) for "Give Me Patience Right Now" and "Waiting and Wanting" in The Sunday Paper
- Wendy McElroy (Collingwood, ON) for "Recalling A Long Ago Act of Kindness" on FoxNews.com
The prize was judged by the editors of In Character magazine. For complete and detailed information about the In Character Prize, please see the links below.
About In Character
Nominated for best design and best cultural coverage by Utne Reader, In Character continues to stimulate, charm and astonish. It is distributed to 3,200 of the most influential opinion-makers in the English-speaking world–a politically and professionally diverse group of writers, professors, policy wonks, poets, physicists, medical ethicists, bloggers, atheists, bishops, philosophers, statisticians, actors, scientists, economists, historians, business leaders and journalists. The journal is also available to the public by paid subscription. For more information, please visit www.incharacter.org.
About the John Templeton Foundation
In Character's publisher, the John Templeton Foundation, was established in 1987 by international investment manager Sir John Templeton. In the area of the human sciences, the Foundation supports programs, competitions, publications, and research studies that explore a range of virtues and positive human strengths, such as generosity, altruistic love, forgiveness and gratitude. The Foundation also supports research and education on the benefits of entrepreneurship and the enhancement of individual freedom and free markets. For more information, please visit www.templeton.org.
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