Spotlight Award
The Human Rights First Spotlight Award celebrates individuals or organizations who exemplify inspiration, innovation, elevation, and uniqueness in their advocacy for human rights.
- Inspiration: The recipient’s dedication ignites action, empowering communities, advocates, and policymakers to defend human rights. Their work is a testament to the resilience, courage, and perseverance that fuel meaningful change.
- Innovation: This award highlights groundbreaking approaches to human rights challenges. The recipient employs creative, non-traditional strategies, demonstrating a readiness to take risks in pursuit of justice and setting new standards for the field.
- Elevation: More than advancing their own mission, the recipient amplifies voices from marginalized or underrepresented communities, drawing attention to critical, often-overlooked issues, and enriching the human rights dialogue.
- Uniqueness: With distinctive perspectives, strategies, or areas of focus, the recipient approaches human rights advocacy with originality, addressing complex issues in uniquely impactful ways.
In 2024, the inaugural Spotlight Award was presented to the Refugee Olympic Team. Yiech Pur Biel, an athlete and advocate, accepted this honor on the team’s behalf at the Annual Awards Celebration on October 8, 2024. Representing resilience and unity under the Olympic flag, the Refugee Olympic Team serves as a powerful symbol of hope, peace, and the limitless potential of refugees around the world.
Award winners
2024
Refugee Olympic Team
Award accepted by Yiech Pur Biel