2014 Genesis Prize

The award ceremony took place at the Jerusalem Theater in May 2014.^[6] The ceremony was hosted by comedian Jay Leno, with performances from pianist Evgeny Kissin and Israeli singer Rita. The prize was presented by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and co-founder/chairman of The Genesis Prize Foundation Stan Polovets.^[7][8]

Starting a tradition that every subsequent laureate would follow, Bloomberg declined the financial part of the award and used the $1 million prize money^[9] to launch a global competition, the Genesis Generation Challenge.^[10] The goal of the competition was to identify young adults' “big ideas to better the world.”^[11]

In April 2015,^[12] nine projects were selected for funding: Building Up, eNable 3D Printed Prosthetics, Friends of the Arava Institute, LAVAN, Prize4Life, Sanergy, Sesame, Spark, and the Vera Fellowship Program.^[13]