# The Ridenhour Prizes

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 Know My Name: A Memoir
* 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
* 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
* 2012: Rachel Libert and Tony Hardmon, for Semper Fi: Always Faithful
* 2013: Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, for The Invisible War
* 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 Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower
* 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