Serious replies only please.
EDIT: There are no restrictions except that they should speak English well enough to give a speech.
One of the conditions of this award is that the winner must be willing to give a speech to accept the award at our annual assembly. If you had someone good to suggest, I would contact them to see if that's something they would be willing to do before making the nomination formal. We do pay expenses for travel and accomodations.
ELLIOTT-BLACK AWARD
The Elliott-Black Award was established in 1971 to honor two long-term and highly esteemed Leaders of the New York Society for Ethical Culture, the late John Lovejoy Elliott and Algernon D. Black. It is given by the American Ethical Union as a recognition and tribute to an individual in the larger community who has made a significant ethical contribution to society at personal risk and hardship. A list of previous recipients is given below.
Algernon D. Black (1900-1993) -- received his B.A. magna cum laude from Harvard in 1923. Among his lifelong activism in race relations, housing discrimination, as Ethics Teacher and Leader of the New York Society for Ethical Culture, he was also the founder of Work Camp for Democracy 1939; Work Camps for America 1940-41; and the Encampment for Citizenship in 1946.
John Lovejoy Elliott (1868-1942) -- in addition to his leadership role at the New York Society for Ethical Culture, is best known for his work on New York's West Side. He worked with boys' clubs until he had established a center for clubs and inter-clubs activities and families. Hudson Guild Neighborhood House (incorporated in 1896) was the first result of his social work. He helped the people organize to help themselves, established the League of Mothers' Club among the settlements (1913) and founded the School for Printers' Apprentices (1912). One of his last acts, at the age of seventy, was to rescue two Leaders of the Vienna Ethical Society who had been imprisoned under the Nazi terror. He traveled to Germany, met the Nazi authorities and obtained the release of his associates.
ELLIOTT-BLACK AWARDEES
1972
Aubrey M. Daniels III, for his courageous statement to President Nixon that the workings of American jurisprudence cannot be subverted to political purposes, that the "United States must be a government of laws, not men."
1973
Peter H. Bridge and Earl Caldwell were joint recipients for their courageous stand of facing, and in the case of Peter Bridge, going to jail rather than reveal their source of information for newspaper stories.
1974
Henry Durham, for blowing the whistle on the boondoggling of large companies on Government money and calling attention to the defects of the C5 Lockheed plane that subsequently crashedin Vietnam with numerous orphans on board.
1975
Jerrold terHorst, for resigning his post at White House Secretary to President Gerald B. Ford when he learned from outside sources that the President intended to pardon Richard Nixon.
1976
Joan Claybrook, for her spirited advocacy in the pursuit of social justice and her courage inconfronting vested economic and political interests.
1977
Dr. Luis Reque, co-founder and executive secretary of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, received the Award in recognition of the extreme activism with which he fought for human rights in the turbulent countries of Brazil, Cuba, and Chile.
1978
Father Bruce Ritter, who created a shelter for thousands of homeless teenagers in the Times Square area of New York City.
1979
Karen Silkwood was granted the Award posthumously. Her life was tragically cut off when she attempted to blow the whistle on safety hazards in a nuclear facility.
1980
Michael Pertschuk, the then Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, in honor of his work in the regulation of businesses to the benefit of the ordinary consumer.
1981
Robert C. Eckhardt, U.S. Congressman from 1966 to 1980, received the Award for his civic courage as defender of the United States Constitution and protector of the well being of the common people and his resistance to the pressures of powerful special interest groups.
1982
Eugene Babb and Stephen Joseph, MD, for their courage and integrity in resigning their positions with the United States Agency for International Development when the United States cast the only vote against the resolution to stop marketing infant formula in the Third World Countries at the United Nations World Health Assembly in Geneva in May, 1981.
1983
Joann Bell in recognition of her firm stand supporting the separation of church and state despite extreme persecution she suffered as a result of her actions.
1984
Professor Robert E. White, for his strength and courage in demanding that the United States should insist on the improvement of human rights in El Salvador before giving that country any money or aid. Because of his action, he was recalled as Ambassador.
1985
Mary Sinclair, in recognition of her 15-year opposition to the construction of a nuclear electrical plant in Midland, Michigan by the Consumers Power Company. She persisted in her efforts despite personal attacks on her, harassment of her children, her husband's loss of clients in his law practice, and bomb threats. In July 1984, Mrs. Sinclair emerged as the victor when the Consumers Power Company abandoned the project.
1986
Dr. Helen Caldicott, for her sustained and outstanding effort, pursued in the face of opposition, to raise human consciousness to the threat of nuclear war. Her campaign to stop the arms race included the founding of Physicians for Social Responsibility and Women's Action for Nuclear Disarmament, and the authorship of Missile Envy (1984) and Nuclear Madness (1978).
1987
Dr. Matthew Ies Spetter, for unwavering devotion to ethical principles, both before and during his thirty-five years of Leadership in the Ethical Culture Movement. For his efforts locally, nationally, and internationally to help heal and rescue the human spirit, and for his courage during the time he was in the Dutch underground during World War lI.
1988
Martha Honey and Tony Avirgan, U.S. journalists, investigated the attempted assassination of dissident contra leader Eden Pastora at La Penca, Nicaragua. They have been the target of death threats, have had to send their children to safety in the U.S. (they were based in Costa Rica). Their investigation resulted in the Christic Institute's civil lawsuit against the private network behind the Iran/Contra scandal.
1989
Ginny Durrin, a Washington, DC filmmaker who documents the urgent issues confronting the nation today: the plight of the homeless; AIDS; teenage drunk driving; and workers' rights.
1991
Derrick A. Bell, for outstanding devotion to ethical principles and for his compassion and courageous example, costly in mental, monetary, and career commitment, in choosing an unpaid leave to protest the failure of Harvard Law to appoint a black female professor to its tenured faculty.
1993
Dr. Margot O'Toole, for moral courage and steadfastness in upholding honesty and integrity in raising valid questions -- at great personal sacrifice-- in her scientific community regarding research that needed to be reevaluated. She is honored for her determination in the face of great opposition in her search for truth in scientific research and in her everyday life.
1995
Dr. M. Joycelyn Elders, for her demonstrated courage and leadership addressing sensitive public health issues; for advocating the right of young people to share knowledge and communicate openly and for outstanding devotion to ethical principles.
1997
Judge Abner J. Mikva, for outstanding devotion to ethical principles and lifelong commitment and advocacy on behalf of the poor, the disadvantaged and the oppressed as a lawyer, congressman, judge, and legal counsel to the President of the United States.
1999
Daryl Davis, for displaying extraordinary moral courage in combating racism, for teaching, through his actions and writing, the importance of reaching out to those who disagree with us, and for advancing the cause of racial equality.
2000
The Innocence Project, a clinical law program for students at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law of Yeshiva University, which provides pro bono legal assistance to inmates who are challenging their convictions on the basis of DNA testing of evidence. Founded in 1992 by Barry Scheck, Professor of Law, and Peter J. Neufeld, Esq., the Innocence Project has represented or assisted in some 40 cases where convictions have been reversed or overturned.
2001
John M. Swomley, who for over 60 years has been a world class peace and justice activist, humanist, respected speaker and prolific writer. His thoroughly researched analysis is well known to the readers of the Humanist and The Human Quest magazines and his monthly Facts for Action. He is a nationally recognized leader on the issues of Separation of Church and State, and Freedom of Religion.
2003
Sam Daly-Harris, president and co-founder of RESULTS Educational Fund, which is dedicated to strategies for ending world hunger. He is the author of Reclaiming our Democracy: Healing the Break Between People and Government, about which President Carter said "(Daley-Harris) provides a road map for global involvement in planning a better future."
2005
Franklin Kameny, Ph.D., a leader in the gay rights movement since the 1950s. Among his many accomplishments, Dr. Kameny organized the first gay demonstration in front of the White House in 1965 and successfully lobbied to get the ACLU to support the effort to end antigay discrimination in federal employment.
2006
Kathy Kelly, a teacher, activist for peace, and war tax refuser, Ms. Kelly has risked fines and jail for nonviolent protests in Haiti, Bosnia, Iraq, and Palestine as well as in this country. She helped initiate the Voices in the Wilderness campaign to end UN/US sanctions against Iraq, and helps coordinate the Voices for Creative Nonviolence campaign. In 2005 she published "Other Lands Have Dreams: from Baghdad to Pekin Prison" -- where she served three months in 2004 for attempting to close a military training school in Ft. Benning, GA.
2007
The Committee to Protect Journalists was founded in 1981 to promote press freedom around the world and to defend the rights of journalists to report the news without fear of reprisal. Through its defense of journalists, CPJ upholds the right of all people to have access to independent sources of information, an essential part of a free society. Using stringent reporting standards, CPJ's staff of journalists and human rights activists conducts intensive investigations into hundreds of press freedom violations each year. CPJ effectively calls attention to these abuses by publicly denouncing attacks against the press and by acting on behalf of imprisoned and threatened journalists.
2008
New Jerseyans for Alternatives to Death Penalty (NJADP) is a statewide grassroots organization with 12,000 members and 200 supporting organizations. In January 2007, the 13 member bipartisan New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission recommended that the death penalty in New Jersey be replaced with life in prison without parole. In December 2007, responding to the Commission's report, the Legislature passed in a bipartisan vote S-17, which would replace the death penalty with life without parole. On December 17, 2007, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine signed the historic death penalty abolition bill into law, making New Jersey the first state to legislatively abolish the death penalty since 1965.
2009
James J. Yee, a West Point graduate serving as the Muslim Chaplain for the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, witnessed and objected to the cruel and degrading abuses of detainees at the hands of the U.S. Military. For this, Chaplain Yee was accused of spying, espionage and aiding the Taliban and Al-Qaeda prisoners and subjected to the same sensory deprivation techniques that he reported against. After months of government investigation, all criminal charges were dropped and Chaplain Yee was awarded a second Army Commendation Medal for "exceptional meritorious service."
