Freedom House Annual Awards & 80th Anniversary
Cuban artists and activists Maykel Castillo Pérez (known as Maykel Osorbo) and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara received the 2022 Freedom Award. NED founder and longtime leader Carl Gershman received the 2022 Leadership Award.
On Wednesday, May 4, 2022, Freedom House marked its 80th anniversary by celebrating leaders who have championed freedom and democracy around the world at our annual awards dinner. We reflected on our 80 year history, the course of democracy and freedom, and the challenges threatening them today.
We saw the demand for freedom reflected in the moving video below that told the story of Maykel Castillo Pérez and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, leaders of Cuba’s Movimiento San Isidro (MSI). The men, who are still imprisoned in Cuba, were awarded our 2022 Freedom Award.
We also heard that demand for freedom echoed in the words of our own Anastasiia Lykholat, who so eloquently shared her experience from the frontlines in Ukraine. The work the team has been doing to respond to the invasion of Ukraine is nothing short of extraordinary:
- In the chaotic early days, Freedom House worked with our humanitarian partners to arrange buses to help evacuate our partners and their families who were in harm’s way.
- Freedom House provided emergency assistance to human rights defenders and civil society organizations, including journalists and media organizations, to ensure their safety and security and to help them continue safely documenting and reporting on the war and human rights violations.
- Freedom House helped our partners replace equipment – computers, phones, tablets – that they'd been forced to leave behind, and restart their important human rights work out of harm's way.
It was a singular night – from the engaging conversation between Representative Liz Cheney and Freedom House board chair Michael Chertoff, to the warm messages received from Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, to the honor of bestowing our 2022 Leadership Award on the imitable Carl Gershman.
THANK YOU TO OUR GENEROUS SUPPORTERS:
FREEDOM HOUSE ANNIVERSARY SPONSOR
Robert Tuttle & Maria Hummer-Tuttle
FREEDOM SUPPORTER
Thomas & Susana Kahn
Nilita & Vivek Paul
FREEDOM ADVOCATE
Anonymous
Aegon-Transamerica
The Honorable Goli Ameri
Judy and Peter Blum Kovler Foundation
The Ginns Family
Jeffrey Hirschberg & Frann Lichtenstein
David Marchick & Pamela Kurland
Motion Picture Association
Dr. Sushma Palmer in Honor of Ambassador Mark Palmer
Nonie & Andrew Prozes
Susan & Thomas Staudt
Telecom Argentina SA
Warner Bros. Discovery
Lorne Weil
GUARDIAN OF FREEDOM
Anonymous
Carol & Ken Adelman
Amazon
BLUEWATER
The Chertoff Group
Meryl and Michael Chertoff
ClearForce
Compass Point Group
Charles & Julie Davidson
Nina Jacobson
General James L. Jones, Ret.(USMC) and Mrs. Diane Jones
Irfan Kathwari Foundation
Cater Lee & David Yost
MadWolf Technologies
Faith Morningstar & Ambassador Richard L. Morningstar
Julie & Chad Sweet
Carlotta & Wendell Willkie
Champion of Freedom
Ava J. Abramowitz & Neil Rackham
Marc & Anita Abramowitz
Kitty & Ira Carnahan
Louis DeJoy & Aldona Wos Family Foundation
Jane & Daniel Solomon
PATRON OF FREEDOM
21st Century ILGWU Heritage Fund
David E. Birenbaum
Francis Fukuyama
The Honorable Jane Harman
Peter J. Rusthoven
Joe Sternlieb and Linda Singer
FRIEND
Kenneth Abramowitz
Michael Abramowitz & Susan Baer
Ambassador Victor Ashe
Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC)
Mathea Falco & Peter Tarnoff
Dave Gallagher
The Honorable Kenneth I. Juster
Rachel Kleinfeld
Jim Kolbe
Howard Konar
Jane M. Kurzman
Lauralyn Lee
Robert C. Miller
Christie & Roger Platt
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Akin Gump
Richard & Pamela Sauber
As of May 1, 2022