- Corporate Teaching Award—Graduate School of Management, Brigham Young University, 1984.
- Outstanding Teacher of the Year—Chosen by graduating students, Brigham Young University, 1986.
- Second Place—Contemporary Issues Articles, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 1987.
- Outstanding Faculty Award—Chosen by all professors of the Marriott School of Management for the year 1989.
- Award for Outstanding International Service—Plaque presented by BYU Student Service Association, 1993.
- Community Hero—Service Award for the Atlanta Summer Olympics Torch Relay, 1995.
- Karl G. Maeser university-wide Excellence in Teaching Award, BYU, 1995.
- Working Toward Zion—My book was honored as a 1997 best seller at Media Play, Inc.
- The Distinguished David O. McKay Lecture for 1997 at BYU–Hawaii was based on my book Working Toward Zion: “The Law of Scarcity vs. the Law of Consecration.”
- My writings were featured as a source of material for a dramatic production, Gadianton, produced by the BYU Department of Theatre and Film, written by Eric Samuelsen, directed by Robert Nelson in spring of 1997. The play lays out major ethical and economic dilemmas, as old as events in Book of Mormon times, as clear as Joseph Smith’s visions of leadership and stewardship, as modern as the cruelty of mass corporate downsizings in America during the 1990s.
- Honored as BYU’s Humanitarian at a string instrument concert, the Firebird Quartet, performed as a benefit recital to aid Mali, West Africa, BYU, May 21, 1997.
- The “Good Samaritan Award,” given to Enterprise Mentors International, the NGO I founded in 1990. This recognition is given by the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty, founded by Father Robert Sirico, a Paulist priest. Our humanitarian program was one of only ten awards out of over 700 organizations considered in 1997.
- Institutional Action Plan drafted by Gary Woller and me was one of only three plans of over a hundred submitted by universities around the world with the honor of being presented at the Microcredit Summit of Councils in 1998.
- Recipient of the Distinguished Lecture Award in Honor of Dr. Glen M. Vernon, Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Canadian ceremony, 1998.
- Circle of Honor Award given by the BYU Student Honor Association for being an “Exceptional example of honor, integrity and commitment to Christ-centered principles,” 1999.
- Recipient of the First “Lowell Bennion Humanitarian Award,” Salt Lake City, Utah, 1999.
- Distinguished Service Award—Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters. Presentation held in Cedar City, Utah, April 14, 2000.
- Our Heroes Award. Presented by the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, Utah Chapter, for the 15 year efforts of the Ouelessebougou-Utah Alliance, Salt Lake City, Utah, February 23, 2000.
- Humanitarian Achievement Award—Presented by the Chasqui Humanitarian Foundation of the Andes, Salt Lake City, Utah, Fall 2000.
- Award for Humanitarian Service. Presented by the Program in Religious Studies at the Center for the Study of Ethics, Utah Valley State College, Orem, Utah, October 2000.
- Recipient—2001 Senator Reed Smoot Outstanding Award as Provo City’s Entrepreneur-of-the-Year, supported by the Chamber of Commerce.
- Nominated as a Torch Bearer for the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics.
- Honored at BYU’s Mentored Learning Environments Recognition Banquet sponsored by the Office of Research and Creative Activities, April 10, 2001.
- Received the First South High Alumni Honor Roll Award for Outstanding Community Service. Salt Lake City, Utah, 2001.
- Establishment of the Woodworth Humanitarian Prize, Marriott School of Management: At the 4th Annual BYU Microenterprise Conference held April 5-7, 2001 it was announced that the Marriott School and microcredit organizations around the world had joined together to create the Warner P. Woodworth Humanitarian Service Prize to recognize outstanding leadership in the field of microfinance. It became an annual award that includes a Third World craft product as recognition, as well as a $10,000 cash prize to be donated in the winner’s name to a nonprofit humanitarian organization of his or her choice. In the spirit of becoming a global change agent, the Prize will designate individuals who have truly transformed the world by their personal sacrifice, radical strategies, and long-term vision.
- Nominated for a “Fast 50” Award as one of the top “movers and shakers” among Fast Company Magazine’s worldwide readers, 2002.
- Recognition for 2 years of “Outstanding Humanitarian Service” to Salvadorian victims of the 2001 earthquake, U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador, 2002.
- Center for Entrepreneurship Business Plan Competition Finalist ($500), BYU, 2002.
- Our BYU delegation was recognized in New York City for having the most successful microenterprise program at any university in the world: Developing new courses, 6 annual conferences, a new journal, research, publications, student mentoring, and NGO startups. Microcredit Summit +5, New York City, November 2002.
- Appreciation Plaque for 3 years of BYU social entrepreneurs laboring to build sustainable strategies for the poor in Central America, by OEF (Women’s Economic Organization), El Salvador, 2002.
- Humanitarian Service Award, Presented by the Center for the Study of Ethics, Utah Valley State College, Orem, Utah, 2002.
- Best non-profit startup—MicroBusiness Mentors, a $1000 prize my students and I won in 2003 for having the best social entrepreneurship business plan, Marriott School Center for Entrepreneurship, 2003.
- Leadership Award. One of twelve LDS leaders chosen in its first annual recognition event from among Meridian’s 200,000 readers in 170 countries, Meridian Magazine, 2003.
- Best Paper Award—Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, Business Division, 2003.
- Financial Prize: $25,000 from the R. Gay Family Foundation, $7,500 for excellence from the Crystal Springs Foundation, to H.E.L.P. International, our student NGO, 2003.
- Hero Award presented to our NGO, Chasqui Humanitarian, a charity I co-founded in my EMBA ethics course, presented by the Freedoms Foundation of Valley Forge for our 5 years of international service in Peru and Bolivia, 2003.
- Outstanding MBA Teacher, OB/HR Track, Marriott School, February 25, 2005.
- First recipient of the new Social Innovator Award, Brigham Young University, March 10, 2005.
- Appreciation Award for Wave of Hope tsunami relief project, from General Lertrat, head of Thailand government’s tsunami rebuilding effort, and Condoleezza Rice, U.S. Secretary of State, July 2005.
- Certificate of Commitment Award at President Bill Clinton’s new “Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), New York City, September 15-17, 2005.
- 15 Years of Humanitarian Service; Recognition by LDS First Presidency, to the first NGO I founded, Enterprise Mentors International, October 28, 2005.
- Microfinance Practitioner Excellence Award to our India partner NGO, Swayam Krishi Sangram (SKS), from Grameen Foundation-USA, Washington, DC, November, 2005.
- Social Capital Award—Unitus Innovations: Presentation from Fast Company Magazine/Monitor Consulting Group, New York, 2006, 2007, 2008.
- International Business School Faculty Pioneer Award for global impacts—Aspen Institute of Management, Ernst & Young Headquarters, New York City, November 2007.
- Social Entrepreneurship Innovative Teaching Award—Skoll World Forum, Oxford University, UK, March 2008.
- Top Ten Among the Most-viewed Online Publications in 2008 for my article in Social Science Research Network, 2008.
- Ronald King Social Entrepreneurship Award, Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum, board of directors’ selection, December, 2008.
- American Express—$10,000 recognition award/grant for our MBM work to empower Utah Valley Latinos through microfinance in Provo, Utah May 2009.
- SSRN—Top Ten most downloaded article on my action learning and teaching case about our post-tsunami intervention in Thailand for the year of 2009.
- Honored during Sundance Film Festival to be present with Dr. Muhammad Yunus at the banquet to launch the new documentary film premiered as “To Catch a Dollar: Muhammad Yunus Banks on America” about our work at Grameen New York, held in Park City, Utah January 24, 2010.
- Recognized as the first Peter F. Drucker Centennial Global Social Entrepreneur in Residence, Drucker School of Management, Claremont University, Visiting Professor in Los Angeles, lecturing to faculty, MBAs, and undergraduates, Spring 2010.
- Top Ten List: Woodworth paper “Youth-Based Social Entrepreneurship: Post-Tsunami Crisis Interventions” made SSRN’s leading papers throughout 2010.
- $1,000 cash award for our research paper: “The Pete Suazo Business Center as a Model High Impact Minority Small Business Development and Resource Center.” Recognized as the Best Paper in Women’s Entrepreneurship sponsored by the International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship (IJGE) and the National Women’s Business Council, selected from among academic papers presented at the International Council for Small Business (ICSB), United States Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) international conference, with co-author John Oirya, MBA), Cincinnati, Ohio, June 24-27, 2010.
- Recognition by the Utah State Bar for my global work in championing human rights and social justice in many nations. I was the keynote speaker to some 400 leading attorneys in St. George, Utah on March 19, 2011.
- Prestigious Tanner Lecture Honoree at the Utah Academy of the Arts, Sciences, and Letters annual meeting, “Action Learning: Using our Research and Teaching as a Platform for Change,” Salt Lake City, Utah, April 8, 2011.
- Red Cross Global Award—This is a spin-off honor to our HELP International NGO operating in Belize. It was for the design and use of Soilet Toilets technology. See the documentary video of HELP’s national premiere which showcases our ongoing fight to improve sanitation globally, narrated and produced by Sean Sevy and Matt Colling, 2012.
- International Heroes Award: Along with my wife and humanitarian partner, Kaye, we were recognized as the recipients of the 2012 Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge annual President’s Day gala on George Washington’s birthday celebration with 360 attendees. The event was hosted by the National President of FF, at which the MC was the voice of the Spoken Word Tabernacle Choir broadcast, Lloyd Newell. Another recipient honored was LDS Church Apostle Elder Dallin Oaks. We were recognized by Utah’s Lt. Governor Greg Bell, along with a military honor guard. Our 30 years of humanitarian work in villages around the globe, along with establishing a number of strong and sustainable NGOs, were the basis for our recognition as a couple, February 22, 2012.
- Clinton Global Initiative (CGI-University) —Recognition as a “Commitment to Action.” Sustain Haiti’s efforts to combat decades of destructive deforestation, we seek to reforest the country as a program of Sustain Haiti, led by two of our members, BYU volunteer Alex Carroll, and Fritz Gérald Février, a Haitian staff member. Known as the Haiti Forest Restoration Initiative, and/or Green Léogâne, this honor occurred at Washington University, St. Louis, MO on April 5-6, 2013.
- Recognized among “Notable Alumni” as a Global Humanitarian along with several prominent LDS church and Utah government leaders highlighted on Wikipedia pp., South High School, Salt Lake City, Utah, beginning 2014.
- Honored as BYU’s Social Innovator by the Education in Zion Gallery of the Joseph F. Smith Bldg. where I’m featured in the permanent exhibit showing plaques, photos and quotes about Lifelong Service and Learning that will stand for a decade or longer in the campus gallery starting 2018. Other recipients include Dr. Harvey Fletcher who invented stereophonic sound and the hearing aid, James W. Talmadge, scientist and LDS apostle, Jane Clayson, TV personality, Col. Gail Halvorson known as the “Candy Bomber” in the Berlin Airlift, and Karl G. Maeser, founder of BYU.
- Our MicroBusiness Mentors NGO that’s labored for 16 years to reduce minority poverty and create Utah jobs was recognized by the NBA’s Utah Jazz Community Service Committee at their basketball game, Vivint Smart Home Arena, February 9, 2019.
- Boston Honorees, Aspen Faculty Award Winners for Corporate Social Responsibility Symposium, Cambridge, MA, August 2019.
- Most Interesting Man in the World. Recognition by the Forbes magazine program’s writer, Devin Thorpe, of “Your Mark on the World” Show, October 2019.
- Global Recognition for my Social Innovation Work to Foster Inner Peace & Happiness Among the Global Poor, Distinguished Life Time Achievement Award for decades of service and experience. Lexis Association, Brussels, Belgium, November 2019.
- Outstanding Researcher Award. EURASIA Research Association. Jaipur, India, December 2019.
- Multiplier-of-the-Year Award as a Non-Profit Innovator, voted by business leaders across America among top national nominees. The Wiseman Group, San Francisco, CA, 2020.