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| Ambassador of Conscience Award | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | human rights award |
| Date | 2003 |
| Presented by | Amnesty International |
| Website | http://www.amnesty.org/  |
The Ambassador of Conscience Award is Amnesty International's most prestigious human rights award. It celebrates individuals and groups who have furthered the cause of human rights by showing exceptional courage standing up to injustice and who have used their talents to inspire others. It also aims to generate debate, encourage public action and raise awareness of inspirational stories and human rights issues. The award ceremonies were organised by Art for Amnesty on behalf of Amnesty International up to 2016. [1]
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The award was conceived and created in 2003 by Bill Shipsey, the founder of Art for Amnesty. [2] [3] The Award was inspired by a poem written by Seamus Heaney for Amnesty International in 1985. The poem, "From the Republic of Conscience" ends with the lines:"Their embassies he said, were everywhere but operated independently and no ambassador would ever be relieved". Seamus Heaney presented the Award to Vaclav Havel in the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in November 2013 [4] Nadine Gordimer presented the Award to Nelson Mandela in November 2006 at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg. [5] The Heaney poem was read by Vanessa Redgrave at the inaugural award for Vaclav Havel in 2003. [6]