Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity

Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity is an annual international humanitarian award recognizing individuals for humanitarian work. It is awarded on behalf of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide.[1]

The Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity
Awarded forCourage, commitment to a humanitarian cause and impact on the world
CountryArmenia
Presented byAurora Humanitarian Initiative
First awarded
  • 2016 (2016)
No. of laureates4 Laureates and 12 Organizations as of 2019
WebsiteAuroraPrize.com

The Aurora Prize ceremonies take place annually in Armenia starting from April 24, 2016. The Laureate of the prize receives a US$1,000,000 award they can use to support the organizations they find inspiring.

History

The Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity is one of the projects of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative.[2] It was officially announced at 100 LIVES launch event in New York on March 10, 2015. The creation of the Aurora Prize was inspired by many stories of the rescue of Armenians during the Armenian Genocide.

The prize is named after Aurora Mardiganian, a survivor of the Armenian Genocide and the author of the book Ravished Armenia.[3]

Gratitude in Action

Gratitude in Action is the concept that drives the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative. The countless survivors around the world who owe their chance at life to the generosity of others can best acknowledge such benevolence by taking similar action. This is Gratitude in Action.[4]

Through Gratitude in Action, the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative Co-Founders wish to inspire all those who have received aid in time of crisis to express gratitude by offering similar assistance to someone else.[5]

Co-founders

The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative was founded by Noubar Afeyan, Vartan Gregorian, and Ruben Vardanyan.

Chair

Tom Catena is inaugural Chair of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative.[6]

Nomination and selection process

Nominations are solicited from humanitarian organizations and the public.[7] The members of the Expert Panel[8] assess all eligible nominations according to the Aurora Prize selection criteria to narrow the overall list to 20-25 nominees for the Selection Committee’s attention. This Panel is composed of humanitarian professionals and leaders of humanitarian organizations. The selection of finalists and the Aurora Prize Laureate is made by the independent Aurora Prize Selection Committee.[9]

The Ararat Challenge

The Ararat Challenge is a worldwide fundraising campaign launched by Aurora on July 19, 2019. It encourages people to record and post videos containing any image of Mount Ararat (a drawing, a painting, a sculpture, etc.) and a call to donate money to Aurora's projects that help people in need. The goal of the campaign is to increase the impact of those programs and raise awareness of Aurora's mission of Gratitude in Action. Anyone can join the challenge.[10]

Aurora Prize

2016 Aurora Prize
Selection Committee

Inaugural Selection Committee of the prize included the late Nobel Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel, as well as Oscar Arias, Shirin Ebadi and Leymah Gbowee, former President of Ireland Mary Robinson, human rights activist Hina Jilani, former Australian Foreign Minister and President Emeritus of the International Crisis Group Gareth Evans, President of the Carnegie Corporation of New York Vartan Gregorian, activist John Prendergast and Academy Award-winning actor and humanitarian George Clooney.[11]

Finalists
Ceremony

The Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity Inaugural Ceremony was held on April 24, 2016 in Yerevan at the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concerts Complex.[14]

The Ceremony was hosted by an Armenian opera diva Hasmik Papian and an American journalist and novelist David Ignatius. The Ceremony was opened by an animation film directed by Eric Nazarian featuring Serj Tankian's “Aurora’s Dream” as the soundtrack.[15] Each of the finalists has been introduced with a documentary mini-film directed by Andrey Loshak.[16]

The live music during the Ceremony was performed by State Youth Orchestra of Armenia conducted by Sergey Smbatyan. The Fanfares of the Ceremony was composed by Stepan Shakaryan. The Statuette, created by Manvel Matevosyan was presented with an excerpt from “Two Suns” ballet by “Ballet2021 Foundation” dance troupe (choreographer Rudolf Kharatyan), accompanied by Avet Terteryan’s and Arno Babajanyan’s music. The State Youth Orchestra of Armenia performed an excerpt from Aram Khachaturyan’s Symphony No. 2 (Bell Symphony). The co-hostess, soprano Hasmik Papian performed Barsegh Kanachyan’s “Lullaby”. The Ceremony was concluded with the song “Pour toi, Arménie’’ (For you, Armenia) performed by Gevorg Hakobyan and the State Youth Orchestra of Armenia.[15]

Laureate

The inaugural Aurora Prize was awarded to Marguerite Barankitse from Burundi.[17]

Barankitse chose Fondation Jean-Francois Peterbroeck, Foundation du Grand-Duc et de la Grande-Duchesse, Bridderlech Deelen to receive $1 million awards as part of the prize package.[18]

The Statuette of the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity was created by Manvel Matevosyan and is called Towards Eternity.[19]

2017 Aurora Prize
Selection Committee

The members of Selection Committee of 2017 Aurora Prize are George Clooney (Co-Chair), Vartan Gregorian, Oscar Arias, Shirin Ebadi, Gareth Evans, Leymah Gbowee, Hina Jilani, Mary Robinson and Ernesto Zedillo.[20][21]

Finalists

The nominations for 2017 Aurora Prize were opened on June 1 and the finalists were:

Laureate

The 2017 Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity was awarded to Dr. Tom Catena.[26]

2018 Aurora Prize
Selection Committee

The members of Selection Committee of 2018 Aurora Prize are George Clooney (Co-Chair), Vartan Gregorian, Oscar Arias, Shirin Ebadi, Gareth Evans, Leymah Gbowee, Hina Jilani, Mary Robinson, Ernesto Zedillo, Lord Ara Darzi,[27] Bernard Kouchner[28] and Samantha Power.[29]

Finalists
Laureate

The 2018 Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity was awarded to Mr. Kyaw Hla Aung.[33]

2019 Aurora Prize

Selection Committee

The members of Selection Committee of 2019 Aurora Prize are Oscar Arias, Shirin Ebadi, Leymah Gbowee, Mary Robinson, Hina Jilani, Gareth Evans, Ernesto Zedillo, Bernard Kouchner, Samantha Power, John Prendergast, Valery Gergiev, Vartan Gregorian, Lord Ara Darzi (Chair), Benjamin Ferencz (Honorary Co-Chair) and George Clooney (Honorary Co-Chair).

Finalists
  • Mr. Mirza Dinnayi
  • Mr. Zannah Bukar Mustapha[34]
  • Ms. Huda Al-Sarari[35]
Laureate

The 2019 Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity was awarded to Mr. Mirza Dinnayi.[36]

2020 Aurora Prize

Selection Committee

The members of Selection Committee of 2020 Aurora Prize are Oscar Arias (Honorary Member), Shirin Ebadi, Leymah Gbowee, Mary Robinson, Hina Jilani, Gareth Evans (Honorary Member), Ernesto Zedillo, Bernard Kouchner, Samantha Power, Paul Polman, John Prendergast, Valery Gergiev (Honorary Member), Vartan Gregorian, Lord Ara Darzi (Chair), Benjamin Ferencz (Honorary Co-Chair) and George Clooney (Honorary Co-Chair).

Finalists

Laureate

The 2020 Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity was awarded to Fartuun Adan and Ilwad Elman.

Aurora Dialogues

2016 Aurora Dialogues

The inaugural 2016 Aurora Dialogues were held on April 23, 2016 in Matenadaran, Yerevan. Participants included Hina Jilani, Shirin Ebadi and Gareth Evans.[39][40][41][42]

2017 Aurora Dialogues

2017 Aurora Dialogues took place on May 27–28 in Armenia and on December 4–5 in Berlin, Germany.

On May 27–28, 2017 many distinguished guests have gathered in Armenia to attend a series of panel discussions and breakout sessions during which leading international humanitarians, academics and philanthropists tackled the problems of ensuring education for all, positioning the role of the media in raising the world's humanitarian issues, protecting human rights, creating role models, overcoming adversity and empowering refugees.[43]

Aurora Dialogues Berlin 2017 “Millions on The Move: Need for Development and Integration” were held on December 4–5, 2017 at the Robert Bosch Stiftung Representative Office in Berlin, Germany.[44] Speakers addressed the state of the global migration crisis and looked at the role of different actors in advancing positive change, as well as development programs and solutions that can make a difference.[45][46][47][48]

2018 Aurora Dialogues

In 2018, Aurora Dialogues were held in New York (in March[49] and September[50]), Moscow,[51] Yerevan[52] and Berlin.[53]

2019 Aurora Dialogues

2019 Aurora Dialogues[54] took place in Armenia on October 17 – 21, 2019, during the inaugural Aurora Forum,[55] powered by partner institutions with a shared vision to address global challenges and local development.[56]

Aurora Humanitarian Index

The Aurora Humanitarian Index is an international opinion poll that measures attitudes about humanitarian issues and the impact of humanitarian intervention.[57]

2016 Aurora Humanitarian Index

The research revealed a significant gap between perception and reality on the issues of Syrian refugees and forced migration.[58]

2017 Aurora Humanitarian Index

2017 Aurora Humanitarian Index, presented to the public during the 2017 Aurora Dialogues, revealed that humanitarian donations are declining.[59] The report said: “This year’s findings demonstrate an overall decline in the support for humanitarian action based on skepticism in the ability to make an impact and ambivalence in defending social values over self-interest.[60]”

2018 Aurora Humanitarian Index

The third annual Aurora Humanitarian Index revealed that over half (52%) of people regarded the threat of war as their most concerning humanitarian issue. At 58%, terrorism remained people's greatest humanitarian concern. The survey also found a rise in the levels of trust in global political leaders to resolve the refugee crisis.[61][62]

References
  1. "George Clooney, The Aurora Prize And Hope In Armenia". Forbes. 29 April 2016.
  2. "Beneficiaries of $1 Million Aurora Prize Announced". The Armenian Weekly. 25 August 2016.
  3. "100 years later in New York: #BeArmenian, #BeAlive". Mediamax. 11 March 2015.
  4. "#Gratitude in Action – Seed Foundation – Kurdistan". www.seedkurdistan.org. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  5. "The Heart of Nuba | Dr. Tom is a finalist for the Aurora Prize". theheartofnuba.com. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  6. Burger, John (2018-12-11). "American doctor who runs remote hospital in Sudan now chairs worldwide humanitarian initiative". Aleteia — Catholic Spirituality, Lifestyle, World News, and Culture. Retrieved 2018-12-18.
  7. "Nominations open for Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity". PanArmenian.net. 9 July 2015.
  8. "The Aurora prize". AURORA PRIZE. Retrieved 2020-05-11.
  9. "Nominations For 2017 Aurora Prize For Awakening Humanity Are Now Closed". Lragir.am. 10 September 2016.
  10. Contributor, Guest (2019-07-22). "Ararat Challenge: The Second Chance Our World Deserves". The Armenian Weekly. Retrieved 2019-08-23.
  11. "Aurora Prize Selection Committee Meets to Deliberate on Finalists". Asbarez. 14 March 2016.
  12. "The 100 Most Influential People". TIME.
  13. "A Look at the Four Finalists of the 2016 Aurora Prize". The Huffington Post. 5 May 2016.
  14. "Aurora Prize Ceremony Kicks Off". Armenpress. 24 April 2016.
  15. "Inaugural Aurora Prize Held In Yerevan". Asbarez. 25 April 2016.
  16. "Good can triumph – Andrey Loshak". A1+. 15 July 2016.
  17. "Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity 2006 programme" (PDF). Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  18. "Beneficiaries of $ 1 mln award from Aurora Prize confirmed". Mediamax. 19 August 2016.
  19. "Aurora Prize winner received statuette created by sculptor Manvel Matevosyan". A1+. 25 April 2016.
  20. "Aurora Prize: The Selection Committee".
  21. "Nominations for the 2017 Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity Now Closed". Hetq. 9 September 2016.
  22. Aurora Prize. 2017 finalists.
  23. AUA Newsroom. June 1, 2017. AUA Co-hosts Conversation with the 2017 Aurora Prize Finalists.
  24. UK Fundraising. 2017 Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity awarded to Dr Tom Catena. 31 May 2017.
  25. "Garowe Online". Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  26. "Dr. Tom Catena on being named the 2017 Aurora Prize Laureate". AuroraPrize.com.
  27. Seed, Jo (6 September 2017). "Lord Ara Darzi joins Aurora Prize Selection Committee". Imperial College London.
  28. "Bernard Kouchner Joins the Aurora Prize Selection Committee". mediamax.am. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  29. "Samantha Power joins Aurora Prize selection committee". news.am. Retrieved 2018-01-17.
  30. "Three humanitarian activists nominated for $1.1 million Aurora Prize". news.am. Retrieved 2018-04-25.
  31. "2018 Aurora Prize nominees announced". Public Radio of Armenia. 2018-04-24. Retrieved 2018-04-25.
  32. "Sunitha Krishnan named for humanitarian award". deccanchronicle.com/. 2018-04-25. Retrieved 2018-04-25.
  33. News, Melanie May on 12 June 2018 in (2018-06-12). "Rohingya humanitarian & activist Kyaw Hla Aung awarded 2018 Aurora Prize". UK Fundraising. Retrieved 2019-04-04.
  34. "2019 Aurora Prize nominees announced". Oman News. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
  35. London, 3 May 2019 (2019-05-03). "Equal Rights Trust Celebrates Yemeni human rights defender Huda Al-Sarari's recognition as an Aurora Humanitarian". Equal Rights Trust. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
  36. "2019 AURORA PRIZE CEREMONY to take place in Armenia". AURORA PRIZE. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  37. Mirror-Spectator, The Armenian (2020-04-30). "Aurora Initiative Announces Humanitarian Candidates on April 24". The Armenian Mirror-Spectator. Retrieved 2020-05-06.
  38. Contributor, Guest (2020-04-25). "2020 Aurora Humanitarians Announced". The Armenian Weekly. Retrieved 2020-05-06.
  39. "Aurora Dialogues։ Armenia to present a new say to the world". Panorama.am. 22 April 2016.
  40. "First-Ever Aurora Dialogues To Provide Platform For Humanitarian Discussion". Asbarez. 19 April 2016.
  41. "Humanitarian issues in the center of attention of the world: Aurora dialogues". A1+. 23 April 2016.
  42. Hairenik (2016-04-18). "Humanitarian Leaders to Gather in Armenia for Aurora Prize Ceremony". The Armenian Weekly. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  43. "UWC Dilijan Released New 87 Change-Makers". mediamax.am. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  44. Division, Hex. "Experts Gathered at the Aurora Dialogues Berlin to Analyze Key Challenges in addressing the Ongoing Migration Crisis - IDeA". IDeA. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  45. Mirak-Weissbach, Muriel (2017-12-14). "Armenians Hold Aurora Dialogues in Berlin - The Armenian Mirror-Spectator". The Armenian Mirror-Spectator. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  46. "Vardanyan: holding Aurora Dialogues outside Armenia "very important"". mediamax.am. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  47. "Armenians Hold Aurora Dialogues in Berlin". haydzayn.am. Archived from the original on 2018-01-18. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  48. "John Prendergast speaking at Aurora Dialogues - The Enough Project". The Enough Project. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  49. "Aurora Dialogues New York 2018". HEART 9/11. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  50. "Growing Roots in the Future: Building a Global Movement for Refugee Self-Reliance". Trickle Up. 2018-10-25. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  51. "Experts Gathered in Moscow to Explore the Future of Social Impact". IDeA (Initiatives for Development of Armenia). April 30, 2018.
  52. "Global Perspectives | GP Conference "Aurora Dialogues Yerevan 2018"". Global Perspectives Initiative. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  53. "Global Perspectives | GP Conference "Aurora Dialogues Berlin 2018"". Global Perspectives Initiative. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  54. Arkun, Aram (2019-12-12). "Hermitage Director Piotrovsky Comes from Russia with Love (for Armenia)". The Armenian Mirror-Spectator. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
  55. diaspora, Now is the time for Armenians around the globe to harness the power of the; Homel, Inspire the Next Generation to Remain Connected to the; . (2019-05-02). "The Aurora Forum Will Capitalize on Armenia's Potential". The Armenian Weekly. Retrieved 2020-05-08.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  56. "2019 AURORA DIALOGUES". AURORA PRIZE. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
  57. "World Refugee Day: Please don't make it just another day". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  58. "Aurora Humanitarian Index 2016". AURORA PRIZE. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  59. Initiative, Aurora Humanitarian. "New Study Reveals State Of Humanitarian Morass Worldwide". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  60. Association, Press (2017-05-25). "Majority of Britons think minorities threaten UK culture, report says". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  61. "British people are becoming more sympathetic towards refugees and immigrants, survey reveals". The Independent. 2018-05-10. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
  62. Letters (2018-05-20). "The gap remains wide on the impact of immigration | Letters". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-07-05.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.