About the award...

The National Peace Foundation established its Peacemaker/Peacebuilder Award in 1989. Awards have been bestowed in 1989, 1997, 2000, 2001 and 2002. Award recipients receive a crystal plaque with a replica of the Foundation's logo, the Bird of Peace, based on a bronze on marble designed by the internationally acclaimed sculpture, John Safer.

In 2002, the original bronze was presented to the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University in Atlanta in recognition of Ambassador Young's lifetime achievements and dedication to peace.

In December 2002, Peacemaker/Peacebuilder Awards were presented at the National Peace Foundation's 20th Anniversary Gala at the Monarch Hotel in Washington, D.C.

During the reception held immediately prior to the Anniversary Gala dinner, Pioneering Peacebuilder Awards were presented to some of those who launched the National Peace Academy Campaign in 1976, were responsible for the creation of the Congressional Commission on a Peace Academy in 1982, and created the National Peace Foundation in 1982. Their work, beginning as a grassroots movement with 50,000 subscribers, led to the establishment by Congress of the United States Institute of Peace in 1984. these awards -- to James Laue (1933-1993) and Mariann Laue; Milton C. (Mike) Mapes (1923-1984) and Jane Mapes; and Thomas C. Westropp -- were presented by The Honorable Richard Solomon, President of the U.S. Institute of Peace . An award in honor of Malcom Campbell, the late President of the Laub Foundation, which has supported the National Peace Foundation's work in schools for the past twelve years, was presented to Mr. Campbell's daughter, Katherine Wolk, current President of the Laub Foundation. We salute these pioneers!

The highlight of the 2002 awards was the presentation of the Lifetime Peacebuilder Award to principal honoree, Ambassador Andrew Young for his lifetime of service in peacebuilding as a civil rights leader, Member of Congress, Ambassador to the United Nations, Mayor of Atlanta, founding Board member of the United Nations Foundation, President of the National Council of Churches and in many other ways.

Also honored with the presentation of Peacebuilder Awards were the founders and key leaders of Peace Links, for the organization's two decades of work against
nuclear weapons proliferation and for creating citizen-to-citizen programs with other countries, including the former Soviet Union and recently the Russian Federation, and for developing innovative programs in U. S. schools. Along with Betty Bumpers, those receiving awards included: Hazel Meeks Decker (1913-2002) , Laurie Fulton, Deborah Harding, Elisabeth Leach, Carrie Lee Nelson, Robert J. Stein, and Carol Williams.

Peace prize for Norway

Norway’s Ambassador Knut Vollebaek accepted the award for the Government of Norway. Left to right: Dr. Stephen Strickland, Co-chair, National Peace Foundation Advisory Board; The Honorable Lee Hamilton, President and Executive Director, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; Ambassador Vollebaek; Ms. Sarah Harder, National Peace Foundation President and Chair of Board. Photo: Steve O'Toole

Two months after Iranian lawyer and human rights activist Shirin Ebadi received her Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway received a peace price of its own from the National Peace Foundation in Washington, DC.  Re more about PrizeforNorway

In June of 2001, the National Peace Foundation honored six individuals for their outstanding work in peacebuilding:

1. Jeanette Mansour , founding program director of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation;
2. Dutch Ambassador Joris Vos for the Royal Netherlands Government's longtime and consistent role in peacebuilding internationally;
3. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) for his support of the United Stated Institute of Peace (USIP) and other peace initiatives;
4. The Colman McCarthy Family of the Center for Teaching Peace;
5. Priscilla Prutzman, Foundation of Children's Creative Response to Conflict ;
6. B. Stephen Toben , program director for conflict resolution at the Hewlett Foundation.

1. June 2000 awards were bestowed on the the following six individuals:
2. Senator George Mitchell for his extraordinary efforts to bring peace to Northern Ireland;
3. Landrum Bolling , for a lifetime of service in Peacemaking and Peacebuilding, especially in the Middle East and the Balkans;
4. Professor Deborah K. Welsh , NPF Fellow for her pioneering peacebuilding in the South Caucasus;
5. Dr. Joyce Neu for her pioneering, multi-faceted work in Africa. (Dr. Neu, at the Carter Center at the time of the award, is now director of the Joan B. Kroc Peace Institute at the University of San Diego.) ;
6. Reverend William Lowery for peacemaking/peacebuilding in southern Sudan
7. Mary Okumu , Women Waging Peace, for work with Sudanese women; and Sudanese Women's Peace Initiative working with Dr. Neu and the Netherlands government.

The 1997 recipients were:

1. International PeacemakerAward:Archbishop Desmond Tutu for his peacemaking and reconciliation work in South Africa
2. National Peacemaker Award: Attorney General Janet Reno for her support and encouragement of conflict resolution education.  
3. Regional Peacemaker/Peacebuilder Awards were presented to :
4. Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton , Auxiliary Bishop of the Detroit (Michigan) Archdiocese, Founding President of Pax Christi UAS and the 1992 Pax Christi Ambassador of Peace; James Mang, Director of the Western New York Peace Center, Buffalo (New York), for shaping the peace center's mission for 30 years from early emphasis on anti-war activism to supporting peace education in schools and community; Barbara Simmons, Director of Bucks County Peace Center, Langhorne, (Pennsylvania) for her dedication to the nonviolent resolution of conflict in the community and the world; Barbara Wiedner, founder of Grandmothers for Peace, International for her anti-nuclear activism and advocacy for peace and justice in all parts of the world.
5. Lifetime Peacemaker Awards , were presented at NPF's 3rd Quarter Board of Directors meeting to three longtime Foundation advisors:
6. Rev. Dr. George W. Hill for his work in leading the National Peace Academy Campaign during its almost 10-year lobbing effort to create the U.S. Institute of Peace and for his humanitarian aid efforts in Cuba and Central American; Frances Humphrey Howard for her more than 50 years of commitment to peacebuilding, especially in helping develop the UN Association; Libby Rouse, for community peacebuilding in Columbia (Maryland), and for her Centers for Human Understanding, and conflict resolution work in schools, especially in the Baltimore area.

The 1989 and first recipients of the Peacemaker / Peacebuilder Award were:

1. Father Theodore Hesburgh , president emeritus of Notre Dame - a lifetime award for his lifelong efforts to build peace and reconciliation among groups both within the U.S. and internationally
2. U.N. Secretary General Pérez de Cuéllar -- for his work to resolve the Iran-Iraq conflict and facilitate the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan
3. Senator Mark Hatfield (R-OR) for his work to establish the U.S. Institute of Peace
4. The late Senator Spark Matsunaga (D-HI) -- for his work to establish the U.S. Institute of Peace
5. Peace Links founder Betty Bumpers
6. Marion O'Malley founder of the North Carolina Center for Peace Education in Chapel Hill, NC.