2007 SPONSIBLE AWARDS

As we enter the second-to-last week of 2007 we thought it would be a good time to present our 2007 Sponsible Awards. The awards are broken into eight categories: Housing, Environment, Human Rights, Education, Healthcare, Animal Protection, Corporate Leader and Political Leader. Over the course of the next week and a half we'll present you profiles on the winners in each category with links to help these sponsible individuals further their causes.

While we have chosen winners we are by no means discounting the incredible work done by countless others in each of these areas. In fact, we fully appreciate that our awards by no means should be considered anything close to definitive. What we hope it does do however, is shine new light on the initiatives championed by our winners.

Sponsible Award - Housing
Winner: BRAD PITT

We watched helplessly as Hurricane Katrina choked the life out of New Orleans' ninth ward. We donated money and even time to help the nearly one million people left homeless by the unusually fierce storm. And of course we grew increasingly frustrated as the government fumbled and bumbled its responsibility to its citizens in need.

One person, however, decided he'd had enough of the gloomy news and took action. As if defining "sponsibility" itself, Brad Pitt commissioned 13 architecture firms to held rebuild the ninth ward.

His project, called Make It Right, aims to build 150 affordable, environmentally sound houses over the next two years. He's teamed with green design expert William McDonough, L.A. architecture firm Graft, and Cherokee, an investment firm based in Raleigh, N.C., that specializes in sustainable redevelopment with John Williams, a New Orleans-based architect, directing the project.

Kudos to the entire Make It Right team and especially to Mr. Pitt for having the vision to be a cause for good, rather than waiting for others to.