Aurora Prize 2017 finalists announced

The Selection Committee for the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity has now announced the names of the five 2017 finalists who stand a chance to win the USD1 million award.

The five; Ms. Fartuun Adan and Ms. Ilwad Elman, from Somalia, Ms. Jamila Afghani from Afghanistan, Dr. Tom Catena from Syria and Dr. Denis Mukwege from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, will be honored at the Aurora Prize Ceremony in Yerevan, Armenia on May 28, 2017 where the winner will be chosen as the 2017 Aurora Prize Laureate.

The Aurora Prize Laureate will receive a grant of USD100,000 to support the continuation of their work, as well as a USD1 million award aimed at supporting organizations that have inspired their work.

Speaking on behalf of the Aurora Prize Selection Committee, Vartan Gregorian, President of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and co-founder of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative said: “While geography and circumstances differ for each nominee, it is the similarities that unite them all. Individual human beings risk their own well-being and safety in order to rescue those in desperate need of help, and it is Aurora’s mission to support these saviors.”

The Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity was established in 2015 by the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative on behalf of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide and in gratitude to their saviors.

The prize will honor an Aurora Laureate each year until 2023, in remembrance of the eight years of the Armenian Genocide (1915 -1923).