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

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the List of national poets, national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the be ...

' 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, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

, 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; 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 *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 capital punishment in the United States. He worked to overturn death sentences for convicts, and helped foun ...

*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 Presid ...

*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 mil ...

*2007:

Adi Roche Adi Marie 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 of su ...

*2008: Jonathan Kaplan *2009: Guy Willoughby *2010: Habib Malik *2011: Linda Norgrove *2012: Karen Graham *2013: Khalil Dale *2015: Olivia Giles OBE *2016:

David Nott David Malcolm Nott (born 1956) is a Welsh consultant surgeon who mainly works 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 ...

*2017: Marcelline Budza *2018: Anna Ferrer *2019:

Jasvinder Sanghera Dame Jasvinder Kaur Sanghera, (born Derby, England September 1965) is a British author and campaigner against forced marriages and abuse. Early life Sanghera was born into a traditional Sikh Indian family. Her sisters were all forced to mar ...

*2020: Josh Littlejohn *2021: Mark Williamson *2022: Digambar Narzary *2023: Renuka Ramakrishnan *2024 Gail Penfold 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 British humanitarian and service awards Robert Burns 2002 establishments in Scotland