Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Awards Announced

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (August 24, 2016) — The fourth annual Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Awards have just been announced and the recipients include a who’s who of philanthropists, Academy and Tony Award winners and other national leaders.

Philanthropist and businesswoman Cindy Hensley McCain will receive the prestigious Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award for Lifetime Achievement. Academy Award-winning actor and humanitarian Louis Gossett Jr. will be honored with the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award for Education. The celebration is under way on Sept. 17 at the Louisville Marriott Downtown.

Tony Award-winning actress, singer and activist Sheryl Lee Ralph will receive the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award for Global Citizenship. Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter and humanitarian Jon Secada will be honored with the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian of the Year Award. John Rosenberg from Prestonburg, an attorney and founding director of the Appalachian Research and Defense Fund of Kentucky, will be presented the Muhammad Ali Kentucky Humanitarian Award. NBC News’ and MSNBC’s Craig Melvin will be the emcee and host for the evening.

The Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Awards celebrate the greatness of people from around the world who are making differences in their communities and beyond. This year’s awards will also serve as a tribute to the late, great Muhammad Ali, who passed away on June 3, 2016.

Ali, who co-founded the Muhammad Ali Center with his wife Lonnie in November 2005, attended each of the previous year’s Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Awards. Lonnie, will carry on the tradition of speaking and presenting some of this year’s awards.

In addition, each year six young people ages 30 and younger are honored with an award for each of the Six Core Principles that Muhammad Ali embraced throughout his life: Confidence, Conviction, Dedication, Giving, Respect and Spirituality.

The 2016 recipients of the Core Principle Awards are:

Josh Nesbit, Waterford, Virginia will receive the Confidence award. Josh is the co-founder and CEO of Medic Mobile, a nonprofit organization that builds mobile and web tools for community health workers, clinic staff, and families in the hardest-to-reach communities.

Shawana Shah, Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan will receive the Conviction award. Shawana works to end gender-based violence in her native Pakistan and to provide women a platform to fight for their rights.

Curt Bowen, Boise, Idaho will receive the Dedication award. Curt is the executive director and co-founder of Semilla Nueva, a nonprofit that develops locally-led farmer education programs that increase the income, rebuild the soils, and improve the food security of Guatemala’s rural poor.

Jakob Schillinger, Tuebingen, Germany will receive the Giving award. Jakob is the co-founder of OneDollarGlasses, which produces high-quality prescription eyeglasses for a cost of less than one dollar per pair.

Tina Hovsepian, Los Angeles, California will receive the Respect award. Tina is the founder and executive director of Cardborigami, a nonprofit that supports those who lost their homes due to poverty, natural disasters, or other crises.

Navonel Glick (Voni, Tel Aviv, Israel will receive the Spirituality award. Voni is the chief operating officer of IsraAID and previously served as its programs director, leading disaster-response missions across the world.

Tickets and Table Sponsorships

Tickets to the awards can be purchased through the Ali Center’s website or by contacting Kelly Watson at kwatson@alicenter.org or 502.992.5338. For more information, visit http://alicenter.org/awards/