Dear Students, Faculty and Staff,
I invite you to join us for two special events during Opus Prize Week that offer unique opportunities to engage deeply with this year’s finalists and our DePaul community through dialogue, reflection and prayer.
This year’s Opus Prize theme, “Uplifting the Dignity of All,” reflects our Catholic and Vincentian mission. The finalists are extraordinary leaders whose work demonstrates the power of faith to transform lives and communities around the world.
Opus Prize Week: Dialogue with the Finalists
Wednesday, Oct. 28, 9:40-11:10 a.m.
Lincoln Park Student Center, Room 120 A/B
Guided by DePaul's Dialogue Collaborative, this interactive conversation will bring together this year’s finalists to discuss the role that dialogue and encounter across difference play in their work for social change.
Participants will have the opportunity to engage directly with the finalists and join a meaningful conversation about how each of us can be agents of change in our own lives, workplaces and communities.
Opus Prize Week: Interfaith Prayer Service
Wednesday, Oct. 28, 5:30 p.m.
Lincoln Park Student Center, Room 120 A/B
I also hope you will join us for our Interfaith Prayer Service, a celebration of faith-based leadership, service and the dignity of every person.
This special gathering will offer an opportunity to come together in prayer and reflection as we lift up this year’s finalists and the communities they serve. Through music, prayer and shared reflection, we will celebrate their faith-driven commitment to creating a more just and compassionate world.
The service will feature the St. Nicholas Cathedral School Choir, a children’s group from Chicago’s Ukrainian Village, as well as blessings from a rabbi and an imam and a reflection from a Christian minister. Together, we will honor the diverse faith traditions that inspire our commitment to dignity, charity and the Vincentian question, “What must be done?”
Details for the Lunch with Vincent and awards ceremony and celebration are listed below. I hope you will join us.
My hope is that these finalists, who are working for transformative change around the globe, will inspire our DePaul community, the city of Chicago and beyond. May their example remind us who we are and who we are called to become as people committed to faith, service and justice.
Sincerely,
Mark Laboe
Interim Vice President for Mission and Ministry
DePaul University
Opus Prize Week
Oct. 26-29, 2026
Join us for Lunch with Vincent, featuring representatives from the three Opus Prize finalist organizations.
Date: Tuesday, Oct. 27
Time: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.
Location: DePaul Center, Room 8005
Attend the Opus Prize awards ceremony to see who the 2026 Opus Prize laureate will be. You will also get to hear the inspiring stories of the finalists.
Date: Thursday, Oct. 29
Time: 6-8:30 p.m.
Location: Holtschneider Performance Center, Gannon Concert Hall