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Annual Award Programs

The Nation Institute is home to three major award programs, each designed to identify and recognize particularly compelling or courageous progressive voices. See below for information on the awards and application procedures.



The Ridenhour Prizes

Watch the video showcasing the past five years of The Ridenhour Prizes - past winners, presenters and the man in whose memory these awards were created, Ron Ridenhour.

The fifth annual Ridenhour Prizes were held on April 3 in Washington, D.C. The prize recipients are Bill Moyers (Courage Prize), James D. Scurlock for Maxed Out: Hard Times in the Age of Easy Credit (Book Prize) and Matthew Diaz (Prize for Truth-Telling).

Nominations are now open for the annual Ridenhour Prizes, which seek to discover and recognize those who persevere in acts of truth-telling that protect the public interest, advance or promote social justice and illuminate a more just vision of society. Winners are granted a $10,000 cash award and receive one of three different awards: The Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling, The Ridenhour Book Prize, and The Ridenhour Courage Prize.

For information on how to nominate someone to receive a Ridenhour Prize, please visit the official website of The Ridenhour Prizes, www.ridenhour.org

Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship

The Puffin Foundation Ltd. and The Nation Institute are the mutual sponsors of an annual award in the amount of $100,000 given to an individual who has challenged the status quo through distinctive, courageous, imaginative and socially responsible work of significance. Candidates are to be found in a broad range of occupations and pursuits, including academia, journalism, public health, literature, art, the environmental sciences, labor and the humanities. The prize is intended to encourage the recipients to continue their work, and to inspire others to challenge the prevailing orthodoxies they face in their careers. The 2007 Prize was awarded to Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights; the 2006 Prize was awarded to Amy Goodman, producer of Democracy Now!

Click here for more information.

Robert Masur Fellowship in Civil Liberties

This fellowship, established in memory of civil rights attorney Robert Masur, is granted to a distinguished first-year law student undertaking research or an internship in civil rights or civil liberties. The fellowship for 2008 is granted to Enedina Cardenas. Ms. Cardenas will spend her summer in El Paso, Texas, working on farm workers' rights with Texas Grande Legal Aid. The Institute congratulates Ms. Cardenas and wishes her success in all of her future endeavors.

Click here for more information and how to apply.

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Salvation Boulevard

A novel

By Larry Beinhart

From the Edgar Award-winning novelist and author of Wag the Dog and The Librarian comes a new mystery novel about a private investigator and a case that tests his courage, character and soul. The victim is an atheist professor, the main suspect—who has confessed and is in custody—a Muslim foreign student, the defense attorney a Jew and the detective a born-again Christian. The New York Times says of Beinhart, "The man can really write."

Read glowing reviews of the book in the Chicago Sun-Times and the San Diego Union Tribune. More


Clive Stafford Smith on PBS Documentary

October 16 - November 20 | PBS Affiliates
Watch Nation Books author Clive Stafford Smith in a new PBS documentary, Torturing Democracy. Stafford Smith is the author of Eight o' Clock Ferry to the Windward Side and founder of the legal charity, Reprieve, whose clients include prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

November 23 | 10 am
Amy Alexander at Watergate Conference
(Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.)
Listen to Institute Fellow Amy Alexander talk with fellow panelists about how bloggers are changing politics. This event is part of the National Association of Black Journalists' Watergate Conference on Political and Congressional Reporting: Did Politics Change the Media or Did Media Change Politics? MORE

December 7 | 4 pm
Gary Younge Pays Tribute to Studs Terkel
(Great Hall, Cooper Union, NYC)
Institute Fellow Gary Younge will be one of the luminaries paying tribute to the life of legendary oral historian and activist Studs Terkel, who died on October 31 at the age of 96. The event will be open to the public and free of charge. MORE

December 8
The Nation Institute Annual Dinner Gala
(Metropolitan Pavilion, NYC)
The Nation Institute's Annual Gala Dinner is Monday, December 8 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York. Special guests include Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood; comedian Lewis Black; and Katrina vanden Heuvel, Editor and Publisher of The Nation. MORE

January 15 | 8:30 am
Deepa Fernandes Wins North Star News Prize
(4 Times Square, NYC)
Institute Fellow Deepa Fernandes is one of three winners of the North Star News Prize, which recognizes people of color who have made outstanding contributions to journalism, media and communications, and public understanding of the struggle for social justice. MORE


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