The theme of this year’s dinner was “The Alliance of Civilizations.” Congresswoman Jean Schmidt accepted our invitation to be the keynote speaker. We also had the honor of having Mustafa Ozbayrak, an elected Turkish parliamentarian whose assembly own the idea of “Alliance of Civilizations” and work hard to promote peace in the world. Dr. Huseyin Coskun of the Ohio State University gave his perspective on the Alliance of Civilizations with a local flavor.

The annual program’s scope was extended with a new addition: Dialogue Awards. SEF will give annual dialogue awards to the individuals and organizations whose hard work and leadership contributes to the diversity and multiculturalism of our society. The four categories that awards were presented tonight are Excellence in Dialogue 1) in Academic Environment, 2) in Media and Broadcasting 3) in Education, and 4) Among Religious Institutions. The recipients are:

Professors Barbara Finan of Ohio Dominican University and Paul Numrich of Methodist Theological School in Ohio – Academic Environment
WOSU – Media and Broadcasting
Multicultural Center at OSU – Education
St. Thomas More Newman Catholic Center – Religious Institutions

In a different category, SEF also presented a dialogue award for a SEF volunteer for his hard work and contribution to the cause of Scioto Educational Foundation. While we strive to organize these events, our members play a major role. We honor a member each year for his or her contributions to the dialogue by actively getting involved in every dimension of our foundation's work. This year's award for Scioto Educational Foundation Volunteer Award was presented to Mr. Oguz Kurt.

The dinner was sponsored by the following organizations and institutions in alphabetic order: Agape Global Church Ministries, Broad Street United Methodist Church, Capital University, Columbus Metropolitan Area Churches Council, Columbus Sufi Circle, Ebru TV, The Fountain Magazine, St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, the Good News- Christian Ecumenical Magazine TV Program, The Martin De Porres Center, Multicultural Center at OSU, St. Thomas More Newman Center, Niagara Foundation, Ohio Dominican University, The Port Columbus Interfaith Services, Students for Dialog at OSU, Somali Women & Children's Alliance, Spiritual Sadhna Society, St Stephen's Episcopal Church,  St. Andrew Parish, and University Interfaith Association at OSU.