Khan Academy Founder Among Winners of 2014 Heinz Awards

The founders of a widely hailed online education project and a nonprofit that uses the Internet to teach job skills to the poor in developing nations are among the latest recipients of the Heinz Awards honoring innovations in addressing global problems, the Associated Press and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette report.

The prizes, worth $250,000 to each winner, were created in 1993 by Teresa Heinz in honor of her late husband, Sen. John Heinz of Pennsylvania, and are bestowed annually by the Heinz Family Foundation.

Salman Khan, whose online Khan Academy offers free tutorials and exercises to students around the world, won the prize in the category to improve human conditions. The economy award went to Leila Janah for developing the global job-training organization Samasource.

The foundation also gave prizes in the fields of arts and humanities, science, and public policy. See the awards Web site for information on all the 2014 recipients.

Read a Chronicle of Philanthropy interview with Salman Khan on drawing major donors to the Khan Academy.