Innovative Practicum Award.

Established in 2024 to recognize the importance of innovation in public health practice, the Career and Practicum Office confers this award annually to one or more MPH graduates who have demonstrated innovation in their required practicum. This annual award includes a monetary prize, which was endowed to BUSPH by an anonymous donor and is presented during SPH’s annual awards ceremony.

To be considered for this award, the practicum must be novel or creative and aim to contribute to incremental or radical change through collaborative approaches—possibly engaging diverse partners and people with lived experiences—to create adaptable and replicable solutions in or across any sectors. This definition is open to interpretation, but each nomination letter must make a strong case as to why the practicum should be considered innovative.

Qualifications & Eligibility

  • Student must have graduated in January, or be graduating in May or August of the current award cycle, and have a fully completed practicum by the end of the Spring semester.
  • All full-time, part-time, and dual-degree MPH students conducting a traditional practicum (not using a dual equivalency) are eligible to apply.

Nominations

  • A student may self-nominate, be nominated by a staff or faculty member, be nominated by a peer, or receive a nomination from their practicum preceptor.
  • Nominations must be emailed to sphpract@bu.edu by end of day on March 9th, 2026.
  • Nominations must be a one-page letter (in PDF format) detailing why the practicum the nominee conducted was innovative. The letter must include a detailed justification explaining why the student’s work was innovative based on the above definition.
  • All nominations must demonstrate at least one of the above characteristics of innovation as noted above.
  • The Practicum Committee is the awarding body.

Conditions of Award

  • Awardees are expected to write a 500-word reflection for the donor discussing what they learned about public health innovation during their practicum.
  • Awardees may be contacted for story/marketing purposes.

Questions may be directed to sphpract@bu.edu.

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