CATEGORIES
Below are the 2023 AOI Awards categories, which are the same as the 2022 Awards Program. For all categories, applicants must represent a program or organization that supports youth aging out of foster care. Scroll down to find out more about this year’s exciting awards program!

PRIZES
We are again excited to be able to provide monetary prizes for the winners of our awards program! The amount for each program/organization size category was selected to be commensurate to general budget size. The larger amount for the Youth Impact category reflects the importance of applying strategies that actually make a difference in youths’ lives, as well as incorporating a solid process for identifying, measuring, and tracking the impact you are having.

JUDGES
The AOI Awards Program applications are peer-judged. This year’s judges are all representatives from last year’s award winning organizations. Click this link to learn more about this year’s judges.

ELIGIBILITY
To be eligible to participate in the 2023 AOI Awards Program…

• The applicant must be a representative of a 501(c)(3) organization (nonprofit or education institution) in the United States.
• The organization or program must provide services to youth aging out of foster care (either preparing youth to age out or supporting them after aging out).
• To apply in 2023, the program or services that support youth aging out of care must have been implemented for at least three years, with a starting date of May, 2020 at the latest.
• If an organization or program wins an an award, they will not be eligible to apply again. HOWEVER, since we have changed the program to provide monetary prizes, we will adjust this rule for the 2019 winners only:
  • Organizations that won awards in 2019 will be eligible to participate in the AOI Awards Program again in 2023.

START THE APPLICATION PROCESS
Starting June 1, 2023, applicants can click the button below to go to the online awards platform where you can create an account and start the application process. You will not have to complete the application in one sitting. You can start it, save it, and then come back to it.

There are five steps to the application process:

1. Create an application file.
2. Confirm that you understand the awards program rules.
3. Provide basic information about the applicant.
4. Provide information about your organization or program’s services.
5. Upload any supporting materials.

You will see these as five tabs after you go into the awards program platform. (Applicants that applied in 2021 or 2022 will be able to access their previous application so that they can copy and paste previous responses into this year’s application.)

Clicking the button below will take you to the first tab in the application where you create and save an application in the platform. You complete all remaining steps in the awards program platform, not here on this website.