The Rev. Trevor Miranda was awarded the 2005 Opus Prize of $1 million Monday night to recognize and support his faith-based humanitarian efforts to promote literacy some of the poorest areas of India.

Miranda is the founder and leader of Reach Education Action Programme (REAP), which aims to convince India's child laborers and their parents of the value of education. The organization, which began in 1998, has opened more than 450 informal schools throughout the region.

Marquette was chosen by The Opus Prize Foundation to host the second annual award ceremony and to actively assist in the nominee selection process. Around 400 people attended the ceremony.

Miranda, who also received an honorary doctorate from the university's board of trustees, dedicated the award to "the unsung people in our slums and streets and to our (organization's) most-dedicated staff."

"We have toiled ceaselessly to bring education and empowerment to our people. We have been frustrated many times, but we haven't given up," he said. "This is not only a recognition of our work, but a balm to our bruises and sometimes toiled energies."

Miranda emphasized the challenge of bringing literacy to the impoverished in India.

"For the few who make the valiant attempt at education, the hurdles are many and many drop out," he said. "It is more than education children need, it is someone to give them hope."

Lisa Hensch, a senior in the College of Business Administration, was selected by the university to visit Mumbai, India, and see Miranda's work firsthand.

"REAP unites communities by bringing education to children who might otherwise be child laborers," Hensch said. "This program is bringing optimism to thousands."

Janine Geske, distinguished professor of law, and the Rev. Robert A. Wild, university president, served on a panel of jurors who recommended nominees for the Opus Prize and two other finalists. The two finalists, awarded $100,000 each, included the Rev. William Wasson and Juliana Akinyi Otieno.

"When I had the privilege of meeting these three individuals, I was struck by how they seemed to glow when they spoke about their work," Geske said.

Wasson founded and directs a series of orphanages throughout Latin America and the Caribbean called Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (Our Little Brothers and Sisters). Otieno is a one of two pediatricians serving Kisumu, Kenya, a city of 300,000 where AIDS, malaria, and lymphoma are common diseases.

The nominee selection process was challenging, according to Wild. But it has served to inspire continuing social responsibility and social justice on campus, he said.

"It's been a catalytic force in a number of ways on this campus," Wild said.

He said the university is currently considering the establishment of a center for human rights. Honoring the Opus Prize winner and finalists is "a further source of energizing for the question of establishing that kind of center," Wild said.