Applications are now closed for 2016.

2015 celebrated the 11th anniversary of The Power of Children Awards at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. We highlighted 55 extraordinary winners from over the span of the award with projects varying from local to global service and with a variety of topics covered.

The Children’s Museum recognizes youth that make significant contributions and create important projects to benefit others. The Power of Children Awards (POCA) were created in 2005 to align with the mission of The Children’s Museum. The awards were inspired by the museum’s influential permanent exhibit, The Power of Children: Making a Difference, which features three extraordinary children who touched the world in unique ways: Anne Frank, Ruby Bridges, and Ryan White.

Each award recipient receives:

• a $2,000 grant to continue his or her extraordinary work.
• partial four-year post-secondary scholarship to a participating institution of higher learning.
• recognition in the museum’s The Power of Children exhibit for at least one year.
• honor and recognition during a special awards event at The Children's Museum.

Award Categories

New in 2016!
In order to better embody and serve our youth applicants we have created two categories to recognize the achievements of emerging and established youth projects.

Emerging
This category is for youths who may have just started a project or are still in the initial stages of set up and development. These small or medium projects have a big idea, but haven’t had the time available or the resources devoted to it in order to excel on a large scale.

Established
This category is for youths who may have been working on a project for a number of years or who have seen rapid success and support. These larger projects may have been awarded a number of other grants or accolades and have expanded their reach and services.

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