Dr. Eboo Patel
Dr. Eboo Patel, the president and founder of Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC) is the recipient of the 2012 Guru Nanak Interfaith Prize. A Rhodes Scholar who was named one of “America’s Best Leaders” by U.S. News and World Report, received four separate nominations for the Guru Nanak Prize out of the multiple nominations made for the 2012 award. A Muslim born in India and raised in Chicago, Dr. Patel’s interest in advocacy for interfaith leadership and cooperation was sparked by his childhood experiences with prejudice, and later cemented by his study of leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. Beyond his work with IFYC he is a member of the inaugural advisory council for the White House Office on Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
The $50,000 prize, which is bestowed every two years, recognizes significant work to increase interfaith understanding. The formal award presentation took place on April 18, 2012 at the Garden City Hotel. The first Guru Nanak Interfaith Prize was awarded in 2008 to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. In 2010 Rabbi Arthur Schneier, president of the Appeal for Conscience Foundation, and Religions for Peace, was named the second recipient of the award.