United Nations Calls for Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Prize Nominations
The United Nations is now accepting nominations for the 2025 United Nations Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Prize.
This prestigious honorary Prize acknowledges individuals who dedicate their lives to the service of humanity, by promoting the purposes and principles of the United Nations, while also honouring and paying homage to Nelson Mandela’s extraordinary life and legacy of reconciliation, political transition and social transformation.
The Prize is presented every five years to two individuals: one female and one male. Laureates will be selected by a United Nations committee chaired by the President of the UN General Assembly and comprised of representatives from six Member States. The committee will also include five eminent individuals who will serve in an advisory capacity. The United Nations Department of Global Communications serves as the committee’s secretariat.
Online nominations for the prize will be accepted until 28 February 2025.
Written nominations for the Prize may be received from the following:
1) Governments of Member States and observer States of the United Nations;
2) Entities and intergovernmental organizations having received a standing invitation to participate as observers in the sessions and work of the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council;
3) Institutions of higher education, in particular universities and other educational establishments, which provide a programme of education beyond secondary education, grant post-secondary degrees and are approved and/or accredited as institutions of higher education by the competent authorities of Member States, as well as independent research centres and institutes that are engaged in dedicated service to humanity, the promotion of reconciliation and social cohesion and community development;
4) Non-governmental organizations in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council;
5) Laureates of the Prize, unless they are currently serving on the Committee.
Laureates are expected to be announced in May 2025. The Prize presentation is expected to be held at the annual commemoration of Nelson Mandela International Day at the UN Headquarters in New York, marked annually on 18 July.
Background
The Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Prize was established in June 2014, and first awarded in 2015.
Originally established by resolution 68/275 (6 June 2014), the Prize Statute was approved by resolution 69/269 (2 April 2015).
The awardees are selected by a committee which includes representatives of Member States from each of the five regional groups, and also includes a representative of the Permanent Mission of South Africa to the United Nations who serves as an ex officio member.
In recognition of the humility of Nelson Mandela, the Prize awarded to each winner is a plaque engraved with a quote from Mr. Mandela.
In 2015, the Prize recognized Dr. Helena Ndume of Namibia, an ophthalmologist whose life’s work has been the treatment of blindness and eye-related illnesses in Namibia and throughout the developing world; and former President of Portugal Jorge Fernando Branco Sampaio, a leader in the struggle for the restoration of democracy in his country.
The laureates in 2020 were Marianna V. Vardinoyannis, a Greek philanthropist and world advocate for human rights and the protection of children’s health and welfare, who is also a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Goodwill Ambassador; and Morissanda Kouyaté, a leading advocate from Guinea on ending violence against women and girls in Africa.
More information:
Key Links
- For more information, please visit www.un.org/en/events/mandeladay/mandela_prize.shtml.
- Details on submission of nominations can be found at https://www.un.org/en/events/mandeladay/mandela_prize_2025.shtml.
- Nominations can be submitted in English or French until 28 February 2025 at bit.ly/2025Mandela.
Contact
For additional information and media requests, please contact Paulina Kubiak, Information Officer, United Nations Department of Global Communications, at email: kubiakp@un.org.