The Robert Burns Humanitarian Award is an award presented annually around the time of

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...

' birthday to a group or individual who has saved, improved or enriched the lives of others or society as a whole, through self-sacrifice, selfless service, hands-on charitable or volunteer work, or other acts. The winner receives a 1759

guinea Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...

, which signifies the year of the bard's birth and the coinage then in circulation, and a specially commissioned award handcrafted in Scotland. The judging panel is chaired by David Anderson, chief executive of South Ayrshire Council, and includes journalist and broadcaster Kaye Adams; actor, writer and painter John Cairney; Nat Edwards, director of the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum; Habib Malik, former RBHA winner and head of Islamic Relief Scotland; Robert Stewart, president of the

Robert Burns World Federation The Robert Burns World Federation is a literary society based in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland, aimed at educating the public about the life, poetry and works of the poet Robert Burns.

; Guy Willoughby, former RBHA winner and chief executive of the HALO Trust; and Rob Woodward, chief executive of STV.

Award recipients

*2002:

John E. Sulston Sir John Edward Sulston (27 March 1942 – 6 March 2018) was a British biologist and academic who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the cell lineage and genome of the worm '' Caenorhabditis elegans'' in 2002 wit ...

*2003: Yitzhak Frankenthal *2004:

Clive Stafford Smith Clive Adrian Stafford Smith (born 9 July 1959) is a British attorney who specialises in the areas of civil rights and working against the death penalty in the United States of America. He worked to overturn death sentences for convicts, and h ...

*2005:

Pius Ncube Pius Alick Mvundla Ncube (born 31 December 1946) served as the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, until he resigned on 11 September 2007. Widely known for his human rights advocacy, Ncube was an outspoken critic of former Preside ...

*2006:

Marla Ruzicka Marla Ruzicka (December 31, 1976 – April 16, 2005) was an American activist-turned-aid worker. She believed that combatant governments had a legal and moral responsibility to compensate the families of civilians killed or injured in mi ...

*2007:

Adi Roche Adi Patricia Roche (born 11 July 1955) is an Irish activist, anti-nuclear advocate, and campaigner for peace, humanitarian aid and education. She founded and is CEO of Chernobyl Children's Project International. She has focused on the relief o ...

*2008: Jonathan Kaplan *2009: Guy Willoughby *2010:

Habib Malik Habib Malik is a retired associate professor of history and cultural studies at the Lebanese American University (LAU). His father Charles Malik was a leading figure in the drafting and adoption of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Li ...

*2011:

Linda Norgrove Linda may refer to: As a name * Linda (given name), a female given name (including a list of people and fictional characters so named) * Linda (singer) (born 1977), stage name of Svetlana Geiman, a Russian singer * Anita Linda (born Alice Lake i ...

*2012: Karen Graham *2013: Khalil Dale OBE *2016:

David Nott David Malcolm Nott (born 1956) is a Welsh consultant surgeon who works mainly in London hospitals as a general and vascular surgeon, but also volunteers to work in disaster and war zones. Having recognised that training others could greatly in ...

, surgeon *2017: Marcelline Budza *2018: Anna Ferrer nna was born in Essex and has worked in India since the mid-1960s. She was recognised for her decades of dedication and devotion to women's rights and tackling poverty in her adopted homeland.*2019:

Jasvinder Sanghera Jasvinder Sanghera, (born Derby, England September 1965) is a British author, campaigner against forced marriages and abuse. Biography Her memoir ''Shame'' was a Times Top 10 Bestseller and described in the House of Lords as a "political weap ...

CBE *2020: Josh Littlejohn MBE *2021: Mark Williamson (Sweet for Addicts) From 2014, a new young persons' element was introduced: the Robert Burns Humanitarian Medal, for people aged 16-25 years from anywhere in the world.

References

External links

Robert Burns Humanitarian Award
{{Robert Burns Awards established in 2002 Humanitarian and service awards Robert Burns 2002 establishments in Scotland