The Phi Beta Kappa Society
PUGET SOUND ASSOCIATION OF PHI BETA KAPPA
Pathfinder Awards
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At the spring luncheon each year, the Puget Sound Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa honors individuals (both adult and youth), businesses, and institutions with the Pathfinder Award. The award certificate reflects the imagery on the distinguished Phi Beta Kappa key, a hand pointing to the stars. It is given to those who “encourage others to seek new worlds to discover, pathways to explore, and untouched destinations to reach.” The people, businesses, and institutions honored do something to broaden peoples' interest in active intellectual accomplishment; they reach beyond ordinary routine, beyond the regular requirement of their lives and jobs, in order to break new intellectual ground and/or inspire others to do so.
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Humanities Achievement Awards
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On the 50th anniversary of their founding by an act of Congress and in recognition of the valuable support given by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to liberal arts education, the Puget Sound Association of Phi Beta Kappa established the PSA-PBK Humanities Award. It is offered on a non-annual basis to individuals or organizations whose contributions to the humanities or arts are outstanding.
Both NEH and NEA are dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities and the arts. They provide grants for high-quality projects to cultural institutions and individual scholars and provide opportunities for life-long learning.
PSA-PBK’s Humanities Award is bestowed on an individual or organization who is judged to have a history of having performed outstanding work and contributed to promotion and advancement of the humanities or arts in the Seattle/Pacific Northwest region.
The Puget Sound Association of Phi Beta Kappa wishes to recognize this person’s or organization’s contribution in furthering its own goals of encouraging broad thinking and in supporting liberal arts education.
The nominee’s work will have been done in one of the following fields: arts (visual and performing), comparative religion, history, jurisprudence, languages (ancient and modern), literature, philosophy, and elements of humanistic work in the social sciences.
In 2025, PSA-PBK authorized, for the first time, a monetary award of $1,000 for the award winner.
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High School Outreach Awards
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Each spring we award a personally inscribed book to outstanding graduating seniors in participating high schools throughout the Puget Sound area. This is one way we encourage and reward outstanding scholastic achievement in the liberal arts and sciences. High school principals and guidance counselors are asked to provide the name of one graduating senior who exemplifies what Phi Beta Kappa represents — a love of learning — as demonstrated by their academic achievement as well as a record of service to others.
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Among the books we have chosen in the past are Gordon S. Wood's Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic; Daniel James Brown's The Boys in the Boat; Hope Jahren's The Lab Girl; and Susan Orlean's The Library Book.
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Schools may select multiple award recipients. However, we can only pay for the first book award per school. Additional books, with the students' names inscribed on the bookplates, may be ordered at a cost of $35 per book, including shipping and handling. You can place your order using PayPal or by sending us a check.
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If you would like additional information about the High School Outreach Awards program or would like to volunteer to present books at the schools' award ceremonies in May and June, please e-mail pbkhighschoolcoord@psa-pbk.org or president@psa-pbk.org, or call Linda Willenberg at (425) 641-1606.
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