Nominations Open for 2021 Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity

Deadline: 31 October 2020

The Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative officially announced the opening of the nomination period for the 2021 Aurora Prize and called for putting forward inspiring humanitarians who go to extreme lengths to save the lives of others, including those fighting the global outbreak of COVID-19.

The Aurora Prize aims to recognize and support those who risk their life, health, freedom, reputation or livelihood in order to save and aid individuals that suffer as a result of today’s tragedies, especially man-conceived disasters and crimes against humanity.

The Aurora Prize is a global humanitarian award established to recognize modern day heroes and the exceptional impact their actions have made on preserving human life and advancing humanitarian causes in the face of adversity.

The Aurora Prize will be awarded annually in Armenia.

Prize Information

On behalf of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide and in gratitude to their saviors, an Aurora Prize Laureate is honored each year with a US $1,000,000 award, which gives the Laureate a unique opportunity to continue the cycle of giving and support the organizations that have inspired humanitarian action.

Eligibility to Nominator

Nominator may be an individual or organization. To maintain the integrity of the selection process and to prevent any possible conflicts of interest:

Self-nominations are not permitted.
You have provided full name and contact details. Should you be authorized to submit a nomination by an organization, you must provide contact details of such authorizing organization as well. Anonymous nominations are not accepted.
Should you be authorized to nominate on behalf of an organization, you must acknowledge this fact and submit a letter of authorization if requested by the Secretariat.

You are also ask to Acknowledge if:

You are an officer or employee or any other individual receiving remuneration for your services from the Nominee.
You are a family member of an officer or employee of the Nominee.
You are affiliated with the Aurora Prize in any way (e.g. Secretariat, Selection Committee, Independent Observer (EY), Aurora Humanitarian Initiative Foundation, etc.) and are a family member of someone affiliated with the Aurora Prize (family member means mother, father, sister, brother, daughter, son or spouse, including by marriage, regardless where they live; or persons who reside in the same household, whether related or not).

Eligibility to Nominee

The Nominees can be individuals or groups of people as long as they meet the following requirements:

They are alive (the Aurora Prize is not given posthumously);
They have not been awarded the Aurora Prize before as a Prize Laureate and have not been named Aurora Humanitarians (or finalists) in previous Prize cycle;
They, when being a group of people, are not a formally established organization of any legal nature;
They have never undertaken or participated in inhumane activities (including acts of war, genocide, any terrorist / extremist activity), do not hold and / or publicly declare any extremist views, have never been found guilty of committing violent crimes;
They do not negate crimes committed against humanity through the history of mankind (including the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide and other massacres
They are not officers, employees or family members of any of the Secretariat, Selection Committee, Independent Observer or Foundation members and employees.

Selection Criteria

Courage
- The extent to which the Nominee’s actions demonstrate:
  - Courage in helping others survive
  - Having overcome significant risks for the sake of helping others survive
  - Going beyond the call of duty of professional obligations for the sake of helping others survive
Commitment
- The extent to which the Nominee’s actions demonstrate:
  - An explicit intention to help others survive
  - A direct involvement in helping others survive
  - Being motivated by altruistic intentions
Impact
- The extent to which the Nominee’s actions demonstrate:
  - An impact of saving lives on the Nominee’s community, country or globally
  - A long-term effect in saving lives
  - Inspiration to others to save lives, directly or indirectly
  - Saving lives of a large number of individuals