The Global Citizen Prize is an awards show organized by Global Citizen (formerly known as the

Global Poverty Project Global Citizen, also known as Global Poverty Project, is an international education and advocacy organization working to catalyze the movement to end extreme poverty and promote social justice and equity through the lens of intersectionality. The ...

), aimed at celebrating activists and leaders around the world. It began in September 2016 with the George Harrison Global Citizen Award (later renamed the Global Artist of the Year Award), and expanded to include more awards in 2018, 2019, and 2020.

History

2016

The inaugural George Harrison Global Citizen Award was posthumously awarded to

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

during the “World on Stage” event at the 2016 Global Citizen Festival in New York.

2017

In 2017, the George Harrison Award was given to

Annie Lennox Ann Lennox (born 25 December 1954) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving moderate success in the late 1970s as part of the New wave music, new wave band the Tourists, she and fellow musician D ...

for her dedication to humanitarian work at the 2017 Global Citizen Festival in New York.

2018

At the 2018

Global Citizen Festival The Global Citizen Festival is an annual music festival started in 2012 and organized by Global Poverty Project. It was founded by Ryan Gall and Hugh Evans. Gall said he was inspired by visiting Austin City Limits and seeing the branding on th ...

: Mandela 100 event in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

, South Africa, the Global Poverty Project presented their first ever Global Citizen Prize for a World Leader, to Norwegian Prime Minister

Erna Solberg Erna Solberg (; born 24 February 1961) is a Norwegian politician and the current Leader of the Opposition. She served as the 35th prime minister of Norway from 2013 to 2021, and has been Leader of the Conservative Party since May 2004. Solberg wa ...

, and the Cisco Youth Leadership Award, given to

Wawira Njiru Wawira Njiru, is a Kenyan entrepreneur, nutritionist, and philanthropist, who serves as the executive director oFood for Education an organization that serves a hot, nutritious and affordable school meal to over 33,000 public primary school ch ...

2019

The 2019 Global Citizen Prize Awards was the first year awards were presented at a ceremony, hosted by

John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and record producer. He began his musical career by working behind the scenes, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Ever ...

at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

on December 13, 2019. The following prizes were presented during the ceremony, which was broadcast by NBC on December 20: Global Citizen of the Year -

Richard Curtis Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis (born 8 November 1956) is a New Zealand-born British screenwriter, producer and film director. One of Britain's most successful comedy screenwriters, he is known primarily for romantic comedy films, among them '' ...

Global Artist of the Year -

Sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-eart ...

Global Citizen Prize for World Leader -

Amina J. Mohammed Amina Jane Mohammed (born 27 June 1961) is a Nigerian-British diplomat and politician who is serving as the fifth Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations. Previously, she was Nigerian Minister of Environment from 2015 to 2016 and was ...

, Deputy Secretary General of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Global Citizen Prize for Business Leader -

Hamdi Ulukaya Hamdi Ulukaya (born 26 October 1972, Iliç) is a Turkish billionaire businessman, activist, and philanthropist of Kurdish ethnicity based in the United States. Ulukaya is the owner, founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Chobani, the ...

, Chobani Founder/CEO Cisco Youth Leadership Award - Priya Prakash

2020

The Global Citizen Prize Awards were broadcast (on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

in the United States, and the CBC in Canada) and streamed live on December 19, 2020, and were hosted again by John Legend. The 2020 awards introduced multiple new awards for philanthropy, culture and education, activism, and the Country Hero Award. Global Citizen of the Year -

Bryan Stevenson Bryan Stevenson (born November 14, 1959) is an American lawyer, social justice activist, law professor at New York University School of Law, and the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, he ...

Global Citizen Artist of the Year -

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

Global Citizen Prize for World Leader -

Ursula von der Leyen Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; Albrecht, born 8 October 1958) is a German politician who has been serving as the president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the Cabinet of Germany, German federal government between 2005 an ...

Global Citizen Prize for Business Leader -

Temie Giwa-Tubosun Temie Giwa-Tubosun (born Oluwaloni Olamide Giwa, December 1985) is a Nigerian-American health manager, founder of LifeBank (formerly One Percent Project), a business enterprise in Nigeria working to improve access to blood transfusions in the c ...

, Founder and CEO at LifeBank (Nigeria) Global Citizen Prize for Activism -

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...

movement Global Citizen Prize for Culture & Education -

Sesame Workshop Sesame Workshop (SW), originally known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), is an American nonprofit organization that has been responsible for the production of several educational children's programs—including its first and best-know ...

Global Citizen Prize for Philanthropy -

Warren Buffett Warren Edward Buffett ( ; born August 30, 1930) is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is currently the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is one of the most successful investors in the world and has a net w ...

2022

The 2022 Global Citizen Prize Awards were presented at the G20 Summit in Bali Indonesia on November 14, 2022. Global Citizen Prize for World Leader -

Joko Widodo Joko Widodo (; born 21 June 1961), popularly known as Jokowi, is an Indonesian politician and businessman who is the 7th and current president of Indonesia. Elected in July 2014, he was the first Indonesian president not to come from an elite ...

, President of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

Global Citizen Prize
Humanitarian and service awards