Major New Sustainable Investing Study Sought For 2011 Moskowitz Prize Recognition

Best Research of 2011 to Be Recognized in October at Socially Responsible Investing in the Rockies Conference in New Orleans

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., April 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Center for Responsible Business at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business has announced a call for papers for the 2011 Moskowitz Prize for Socially Responsible Investing—the only global award recognizing outstanding quantitative research in the field of sustainable and socially responsible investing.

To be considered for the Moskowitz Prize, studies must be submitted by June 30, 2011. The $5,000 prize competition is open to authors of studies relevant to responsible investing. Studies may be published or unpublished, but unpublished studies should be of a quality appropriate for publication in a peer-reviewed academic journal.  Details about the submission process can be found at: http://responsiblebusiness.haas.berkeley.edu/2011MoskowitzPrizeCall.html.

This year's prize-winning study will be announced at the 22nd Annual SRI in the Rockies Conference in New Orleans on October 3, 2011.

Entries are reviewed by an independent jury of scholars and investment professionals. The prize winner is determined based on practical significance to practitioners of socially responsible investing, appropriateness and rigor of quantitative methods, and novelty of results. Since its inception 15 years ago, the Moskowitz Prize has been awarded annually at the SRI in the Rockies Conference, the largest and longest running conference serving investors and investment professionals in the sustainable and responsible investment industry in North America.

The 2010 Moskowitz Prize was awarded to Rob Bauer and Daniel Hann of Maastricht University and the European Center for Corporate Engagement (ECCE) for their paper entitled Corporate Environmental Management and Credit Risk. Focusing on 582 U.S.-based corporations between 1995 and 2006, the Bauer-Hann study examined the effects of corporate environmental management on the interest rates that companies pay for corporate bonds and "demonstrated for the first time the effect of environmental management on credit risk and the cost of corporate debt."

The Moskowitz Prize has been awarded since 1996 to encourage and recognize outstanding academic research on matters germane to the field of responsible investing. Named for Milton Moskowitz, one of the first investigators to publish comparisons of the financial performance of screened and unscreened portfolios, the Prize was originally created as a project of the Social Investment Forum; it came under the administrative umbrella of the Center for Responsible Business in 2005.

2011 Moskowitz Prize sponsors include Calvert Group, First Affirmative Financial Network, Nelson Capital Management, Rockefeller and Co., Neuberger Berman, and Trillium Asset Management.

About the Haas School of Business

As the second-oldest business school in the United States, the Haas School of Business at the University of California Berkeley is one of the world's leading producers of new ideas and knowledge. The school offers management education to about 2,200 undergraduate and graduate students each year who come from around the world to study in one of its six degree-granting programs. With 36,000 alumni, the Haas School's mission is to develop innovative business leaders—individuals who redefine how we do business by putting new ideas into action in all areas of their organizations, and who do so responsibly. The school's distinctive culture is defined by four key principles: question the status quo, confidence without attitude, students always, and beyond yourself.

About the SRI in the Rockies Conference – Registration

The 22nd annual SRI in the Rockies Conference (www.SRIintheRockies.com), the leading forum for the sustainable and responsible investment (SRI) industry in the North America, will be held at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel, October 2–5, 2011. For assistance with registration and sponsorship information, please contact Krystala Kalil, at 888-774-2663 or [email protected].

About First Affirmative Financial Network

First Affirmative Financial Network, LLC (www.FirstAffirmative.com) is an independent fee-only Registered Investment Advisor (SEC File #801-56587) offering investment consulting and asset management services through a nationwide network of investment professionals who specialize in serving socially conscious investors. First Affirmative produces the annual SRI in the Rockies Conference, the premier gathering of sustainable and responsible investor and investment professionals in North America.

SOURCE First Affirmative Financial Network, Colorado Springs, CO