The Ridenhour Prizes Explained

The Ridenhour Prizes are awards in four categories given annually in recognition of those "who persevere in acts of truth-telling that protect the public interest, promote social justice or illuminate a more just vision of society".

History

The awards are presented by The Nation Institute and The Fertel Foundation in recognition of Ron Ridenhour, the Vietnam War veteran who exposed the My Lai Massacre. Each prize carries a $10,000 stipend. The prizes were first awarded in 2004.

Prize categories

The Ridenhour Courage Prize
The Ridenhour Book Prize
The Ridenhour Truth-Telling Prize
The Ridenhour Documentary Film Prize (since 2011)

Past winners

The Ridenhour Courage Prize

2004: Daniel Ellsberg
2005: Seymour Hersh
2006: Gloria Steinem
2007: Jimmy Carter
2008: Bill Moyers
2009: Bob Herbert
2010: Howard Zinn (posthumous)
2011: Russ Feingold
2012: John Lewis
2013: James Hansen
2014: Frederick A.O. Schwarz, Jr.
2015: James Risen
2016: Jamie Kalven
2017: Anna Deavere Smith
2018: Tarana Burke
2019: George Soros (donated all of prize money to Hungarian Spectrum)
2020: Denis Hayes
2021: José Andrés
2022: Anita Hill
2023: Jamie Raskin

The Ridenhour Book Prize

2004: Deborah Scroggins, for Emma's War: An Aid Worker, Radical Islam, and the Politics of Oil – A True Story of Love and Death in the Sudan
2005: Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, for Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx
2006: Anthony Shadid, for Night Draws Near: Iraq's People in the Shadow of America's War
2007: Rajiv Chandrasekaran, for Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone,
2008: James Scurlock, for Maxed Out: Hard Times in the Age of Easy Credit
2009: Jane Mayer, for The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into A War on American Ideals
2010: Joe Sacco, for Footnotes in Gaza
2011: Wendell Potter, for Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR is Killing Healthcare and Deceiving Americans
2012: Ali H. Soufan, for The Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against al‐Qaeda
2013: Seth Rosenfeld, for Subversives: The FBI's War on Student Radicals, and Reagan's Rise to Power
2014: Sheri Fink, for Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital
2015: Anand Gopal, for No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban, and the War Through Afghan Eyes
2016: Jill Leovy, for Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America
2017: Heather Ann Thompson, for Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy
2018: Lauren Markham, for The Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life
2019: Eliza Griswold, for Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America
2020: Chanel Miller for
2021: Claudio Saunt for Unworthy Republic: The dispossession of Native Americans and the road to Indian Territory
2022: Heather McGhee for The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together
2023: Lea Ypi for Free: Coming of Age at the End of History

The Ridenhour Truth-Telling Prize

2004: Joseph Wilson
2005: Kristen Breitweiser
2006: Rick S. Piltz
2007: Donald Vance
2008: Matthew Diaz
2009: Thomas Tamm
2010: Matthew Hoh
2011: Thomas Andrews Drake^[1]
2012: Eileen Foster and Daniel L. Davis
2013: Jose Antonio Vargas
2014: Edward Snowden and Laura Poitras
2015: Aicha Elbasri
2016: Mona Hanna-Attisha
2017: Daniela Vargas
2018: Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto
2019: Dr. Scott Allen, Dr. Pamela McPherson, and Scott Shuchart
2020: Dr. Rick A. Bright
2021: Cariol Horne
2022: Anika Collier Navaroli
2023: Dawn Wooten

The Ridenhour Documentary Film Prize

2011: Julia Bacha, Ronit Avni and Rula Salameh, for Budrus^[2]
2012: Rachel Libert and Tony Hardmon, for
2013: Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, for The Invisible War^[3] ^[4]
2014: Dawn Porter, for Gideon's Army
2015: Laura Poitras, for Citizenfour
2016: Joshua Oppenheimer, for The Look of Silence
2017: Sonia Kennebeck, for National Bird
2018: Joe Piscatella, for
2019: Alexandria Bombach, for On Her Shoulders
2020: Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang, for One Child Nation
2021: Ramona Diaz, for A Thousand Cuts
2022: Stanley Nelson Jr. and Traci A. Curry, for Attica
2023: Emma Tildes and Tia Lessin for The Janes

Special Ridenhour Prize for Reportorial Distinction

2009: Nick Turse^[5]

External links

Notes and References

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/leaks-and-the-law-the-story-of-thomas-drake-14796786/ Leaks and the Law: The Story of Thomas Drake|History|Smithsonian Magazine
https://www.pogo.org/press/release/2011/ridenhour-prizes-honor-courageous-truth-tellers/ Ridenhour Prizes Honor Courageous Truth Tellers - POGO.org
Web site: Lee. Diana. 2013 Ridenhour Documentary Film Prize Winner Announced. The Nation Institute. 28 February 2013. February 22, 2013.
https://www.pogo.org/analysis/2013/04/10th-annual-ridenhour-prizes-honor-courageous-truth-telling/ 10th Annual Ridenhour Prizes Honor 'Courageous Truth-Telling' - POGO.org
Web site: Ridenhour Prize for Reportorial Distinction; 2009 Special Prize, Nick Turse. The Ridenhour Prizes. The Nation Institute. 7 May 2018. 2009. 3 November 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181103160907/http://www.ridenhour.org/prizes_reportorial_distinction.html. dead.