Media Coverage

The Tower
University to Host Annual Opus Award
March 30, 2007

The University president, the Very Rev. David M. O'Connell personally selected ten "prominent individuals," including Wolf Blitzer, Tim Russert and George Stephanopoulos to be part a jury that selected finalists for the one million dollar Opus Prize, the University announced last Friday.

The University is hosting the Opus Prize ceremony on Nov. 8 in the Pryzbyla Center Great Room, where the recipient of the "humanitarian award for faith-based entrepreneurship" will be honored. The winner of the million-dollar award and the two finalists who will be awarded $100,000 each are expected to be announced this summer.

The Opus Group, a $1.4 billion real estate company, is the company tasked with building the $25 million upperclassman residence Opus Hall. The Opus Prize Foundation is a philanthropic organization founded by the Opus Group in 2002. The Opus Prize, founded in 2004, annually honors an "unsung hero working on the front lines of today's most dire social challenges." Opus has previously partnered with three other Catholic universities to present the award: The University of San Francisco, Marquette University and the University of Notre Dame.

"I am so gratified that such a distinguished group of current and former Washingtonians have given of their time and talent to select a world-class humanitarian who is worthy of being recognized and supported," said O'Connell in a University press release. He said that the key virtue the prize promotes - faith-based service - is central to the University's Catholic identity and commitment to serve others.

"I think hosting this prize is a wonderful opportunity for Catholic University and will be one of the highlights of the fall 2007 semester," said Victor Nakas, Associate Vice President for Public Affairs.

Nakas said the University hopes to provide three Opus Prize finalists an opportunity to share their experiences with as many students as possible. He said the committee O'Connell created to administer the prize recently met with a group of students to figure out what kind of programming would be of the greatest interest to the student body. Details about the programming will be shared with the student body by the time the fall semester begins.

Although the Opus Prize dinner will be by invitation only, Nakas said that select students will be invited because one of the goals of the prize is "to inspire students to engage in service throughout their lives."