Greatest prize money awarded annually

The largest annual prize awarded to an individual in monetary terms is The Templeton Prize valued at £700,000 ($1 million). The prize is awarded every year to an individual who has shown originality in advancing ideas and institutions that deepen the world's understanding of God and of spiritual life and service. The monetary level of the Templeton Prize is always set at an amount that exceeds the Nobel Prizes. Well-known past recipients of the prize include Rev. Dr. Billy Graham in 1982 and Mother Teresa who won the first Templeton Prize in 1973. Sir John Templeton graduated from Yale University and was a Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College, Oxford University. He is universally regarded as a pioneer in the development of value-based, globally diversified mutual funds and was founder of the Templeton Growth Fund and Templeton World Fund. The Templeton Prize forms part of an annual $40 million investment by Sir John Templeton into exploring spirituality. In 2003 the award went to Professor Holmes Rolston III, a philosopher leading the international debate on environmental ethics.