Puffin Prize for Creative Citizenship

The Puffin Foundation, Ltd. and The Type Media Center (formerly The Nation Institute) are the mutual sponsors of an annual award in the amount of $100,000 given to an individual who has challenged the status quo through distinctive, courageous, imaginative and socially responsible work of significance. Candidates are to be found in a broad range of occupations and pursuits, including academia, journalism, public health, literature, art, the environmental sciences, labor and the humanities. The prize is intended to encourage the recipients to continue their work, and to inspire others to challenge the prevailing orthodoxies they face in their careers.

The Puffin Prize for Creative Citizenship was renamed in 2017.  It was formerly known as the Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship.

Remembering Victor Navasky
The Puffin Foundation deeply mourns the passing of Victor Navasky. Our collaborations with Victor date back more than 20 years when Puffin jointly began the Puffin Prize for Creative Citizenship with The Nation Magazine where he was both Editor and Publisher. Our current support of Student Nation and the investigative work of Type Media upon whose Board he sat can be traced back to that first meeting with him. You can read more about Victor here and here. His insights, humor, and brilliance will be missed.

Honorees


Puffin Prize 2023

Save the Date for Type Media Center‘s Annual Celebration on Wednesday, May 8th. We hope you’ll join us again at the beautiful Museum of the City of New York from 6 to 9pm. That…

2022 Heather Booth

Please Save the Date for Type Media Center‘s Annual Celebration on Monday, May 1st. We hope that you will join us at the Museum of the City of New York for what will be our…

2020 Desmond Meade

Desmond Meade is a formerly homeless returning citizen who overcame many obstacles to eventually become the President of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC), Chair of Floridians for a Fair Democracy,…

2019 The Sunrise Movement

Remarks of Neal RosensteinVice President, The Puffin FoundationThe Puffin Prize for Creative CitizenshipType Media GalaDecember 10, 2019 On behalf of Perry & Gladys Rosenstein & the Puffin Foundation I’d like…

2018 The Parkland Student Activists

The Parkland Student Activists are the winners of the 2018 Puffin Prize for Creative Citizenship in partnership with Type Media Center (formerly the Nation Institute). The Students, in partnership with…

2017 Colin Kaepernick

kaepernick

Colin Kaepernick receives the 2017 Puffin Prize for Creative Citizenship (formerly the Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship) in partnership with Type Media Center. During last year’s NFL pre-season, then-San Francisco…

2016 Bryan Stevenson

Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, is the winner of the annual $100,000 Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship in partnership with Type Media (fka the…

2015 Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II

Dr. Barber

Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II, volunteer President of the North Carolina NAACP, is the winner of the 2015 Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship. The award will be presented to…

2014 Frances Fox Piven

Frances Fox Piven, Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Sociology at The Graduate Center, CUNY, received the annual $100,000 Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship on Monday, December 8, 2014, at…

2013 Barry W. Lynn

The Nation Institute and The Puffin Foundation, Ltd. are pleased to award the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Executive Director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, with the…

2012 Benjamin Todd Jealous

Winner of the 2012 Puffin Prize for Creative Citizenship (formerly the Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship). Prize Recognizes NAACP’s Leadership In Civil and Human Rights Movement; Efforts to “Rebrand” Civil…

2011 Tony Kushner

Winner of the 2011 Puffin Prize for Creative Citizenship (formerly the Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship). Tony Kushner Announced as Winner of the 2011 Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship November…

2010 Bill McKibben & Cecile Richards

Winners of the 2010 Puffin Prize for Creative Citizenship (formerly the Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship).  2010 Honorees Cecile Richards and Bill McKibben Cecile Richards serves as president of the…

2009 Jim Hightower

Winner of the Puffin Prize for Creative Citizenship (formerly the Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship). An advocate for everyday people whose voices are seldom heard in Washington and on Wall…

2008 Van Jones

Winner of the 2008 Puffin Prize for Creative Citizenship (formerly the Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship). Environmental activist, author and social entrepreneur Van Jones is the 2008 recipient of the $100,000 Puffin/Nation Prize for…

2007 Michael Ratner

Winner of the 2007 Puffin Prize for Creative Citizenship (formerly the Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship). Attorney, author and Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) President Michael Ratner is the recipient…

2006 Amy Goodman

Winner of the 2006 Puffin Prize for Creative Citizenship (formerly the Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship).  Amy Goodman is a syndicated columnist, host of the news program Democracy Now! and co-author of…

2005 Jonathan Kozol

Winner of the 2005 Puffin Prize for Creative Citizenship (formerly the Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship). Jonathan Kozol began his career as a fourth-grade teacher in Roxbury, a poor, predominantly…

2004 Barbara Ehrenreich

Winner of the 2004 Puffin Prize for Creative Citizenship (formerly the Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship). Barbara Ehrenreich is the author of the best-selling Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by…

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