Out of 125 fascinating entries, the following five people have been crowned the first ever “Ideas for Impact” semi-finalists:

• Jurrien Swarts – Farm fresh food prepared into microwavable meals for locovores and people living in “food deserts”

• Heather Burkman – Digitizing small business records and storing hard copies off-site

• Nickalas Goettling – Seal coating asphalt roads and parking lots

• Kendra Pierre-Louis – Restoring brownfields through phytoremediation

• Michael Cozzolino – Manufacturing decorative architectural wood wall panels

Congratulations to Jurrien, Heather, Nickalas, Kendra, and Michael!

Stay tuned to find out which of these semi-finalists will win the coveted “Noble Prize for Social Impact” on June 1^st, 2011.