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The Global Citizen Prize is an annual awards ceremony that celebrates the leaders among us who are taking action to create a world we want and to uplift the world’s most vulnerable people — those leading with compassion, care, innovation, and dedication.

Across multiple categories, the Global Citizen Prize works to honor the young people, the world leaders, the business leaders, the philanthropic leaders, and the Global Citizens who exemplify the leadership we need to tackle extreme poverty, to foster social change around the world, and to achieve a world that is fair, just, and equal. 

In addition to the award presentations, the global broadcast and digitally streamed show and pre-show will feature inspirational stories of human strength and unforgettable performances that will bring together artists, activists, and global leaders to remind each of us that, together, we will come out of this year stronger. 

The Global Citizen Prize 2020 will see the presentation of the following awards: 

• Global Citizen of the Year: For an individual who has proven exceptional and sustained impact toward the end of extreme poverty and its systemic causes. 
• Global Citizen Artist of the Year: The Artist of the Year award celebrates a creative individual or group who use their platform to create change, not just through conversation but through meaningful impact.
• Global Citizen Prize for a World Leader: For a political figure who advocates for and has implemented policy changes that have improved the lives of those living in poverty.
• Global Citizen Prize for a Business Leader: For an individual in the business community who has combined business goals with positive human impact. 
• Global Citizen Prize: Cisco Youth Leadership Award: For an individual aged 18-30 who has contributed meaningfully towards the goal of ending poverty and its systemic causes in their community. 

In 2020, Global Citizen Prize will add three awards, selected by Global Citizen and a team of advisors, to recognize individuals or organizations who have demonstrated exceptional impact over the preceding year, creating positive change and inspiring others through compassion, innovation, and unwavering dedication in their respective fields. 

• Global Citizen Prize for Philanthropy: Honors a philanthropist, or philanthropic group, who has shown extraordinary leadership, stepping forward to accelerate their giving in support of the world’s biggest challenges and in pursuit of achieving the United Nations Global Goals. 
• Global Citizen Prize for Culture and Education: Honors an individual or organization who has excelled in creating positive change through an artistic or educational endeavour. 
• Global Citizen Prize for Activism: Honors an individual or organization whose activism has driven significant and exemplary impact for society at a local or global level.
  

The Global Citizen Prize broadcast special will air on Saturday, Dec. 19, 2020, at 8 p.m. ET on NBC + MSNBC in the United States, and CTV, Albavision, Insight TV, Mediacorp, MTV International, Multimedios Televisión, SABC, SKY Media, TRACE Anglophone West Africa and Vodafone, in Africa, Asia, Canada, Central America, India, Europe, and the UK. You can look up specific times, dates and broadcasters here.

The Countdown to the Prize digital pre-show, hosted by Access Hollywood’s Scott Evans, will stream at 7:30 p.m. ET on Facebook and Twitter. 

The Global Citizen Prize show will also be available on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube following its airing on NBC. 

You can find a full listing of global broadcast times here — and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for the latest updates.

John Legend will be returning to host the Global Citizen Prize ceremony for the second year, having first hosted the 2019 ceremony at London’s iconic Royal Albert Hall. 

The Global Citizen Prize award ceremony will also see performances from Alessia Cara, Carrie Underwood, Common, Gwen Stefani, John Legend, JoJo, and Tori Kelly.

There will also be appearances by John Oliver, Katie Couric, Miley Cyrus, Nick Jonas, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Oprah Winfrey, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Scott Evans and Usher.

We’ve got even more Global Citizen Prize announcements to come, so follow @GlblCtzn on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for the latest updates!

There are lots of ways for you to get involved with Global Citizen Prize. 

1. Join our My2020Hero campaign — We want to hear from Global Citizens all around the world about who’s been your “2020 Hero”, who’s that person who has stepped up during a difficult year to support you, your community, or the whole world. We’ve faced some unprecedented global challenges this year, and we want to shine a light on those unsung heroes who are helping make a difficult year just a little bit brighter (think your best friend who texts you a joke every day, or your neighbor who helped pick up groceries for you, or your cousin who is a frontline worker).  All you have to do is share a photo of (and tag) your “2020 Hero” and tell us why they’re so incredible, including the hashtag #My2020Hero. Head to @GlblCtzn on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to get involved.

2. Spread the word — Social media is such a powerful tool for shaping public discourse, and what better use for your social channels than raising awareness about the incredible leaders and activists honored through Global Citizen Prize. Follow @GlblCtzn on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and start sharing!

3. Tune in! — And of course, don’t forget to join us wherever you are in the world, as Global Citizen Prize broadcasts and streams from Dec. 19. With inspirational stories of human strength, unforgettable performances, and more, Global Citizen Prize will bring together artists, activists, and global leaders to remind each of us that, together, we’ll come out of this year stronger. You can find a full listing of global broadcast times here.

Global Citizen Prize builds on a legacy established in 2016 when we presented the first George Harrison Global Citizen Award for an artist who has demonstrated excellence in music and activism throughout the course of their career. 

The award was presented by Paul Simon to the late Beatle George Harrison at an event in New York City, with the award accepted by his wife and son on his behalf. In 2017, the award was presented to Annie Lennox, for her dedication to global humanitarian work. 

At the Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 in Johannesburg, South Africa, we presented the first-ever Global Citizen Prize for a World Leader to Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg. The inaugural Cisco Youth Leadership Award was presented to Wawira Njiru, the now 29-year-old Founder and Executive Director of Food for Education, who’s improving nutrition for thousands of schoolchildren in Kenya. 

Lastly, in December 2019, we hosted the first-ever annual Global Citizen Prize ceremony, at London’s iconic Royal Albert Hall. 

There, we celebrated the remarkable achievements of Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Amina Mohammed, named World Leader of the Year; iconic British filmmaker and Global Citizen of the Year, Richard Curtis; 17-time Grammy-award winner and Artist of the Year, Sting; and Hamdi Ulukaya, CEO of Chobani and a tireless advocate for refugees, who was named Business Leader of the Year. Meanwhile, the Cisco Youth Leadership Award was presented to Priya Prakash, the now 29-year-old CEO and Founder of HealthSetGo, working to ensure children in India have the healthiest start in life. 

Global Citizen campaigns on the UN’s Global Goals, a 17-step roadmap to ending extreme poverty by 2030. Despite remarkable progress in recent decades, the year 2020, a year of unprecedented global challenges, threatens to set us all back in our efforts to achieve a world that is fair, just, and equal. 

As the world faces a deadly global pandemic, a reckoning on racial justice, and more, it has become clear that the world needs true leadership — and that every person can be a leader who takes action for the world we want. 

With the Global Citizen Prize, we celebrate those leaders who are taking action, who are leading with compassion, care, innovation, and a dedication to uplift the world’s most vulnerable people — and who inspire each of us to do the same.

We'll be following all COVID-19 protocols in the filming of the 2020 Global Citizen Prize show. Unlike last year's event that took place in Royal Albert Hall, award-winners and musical performers will be filmed at various outdoor locations or on location, following strict COVID-19 filming guidelines. 

Our host will be filmed in a studio, and all crew will follow COVID-19 filming protocols (including being tested, wearing masks, and being socially-distant). There also won’t be a physical event this year, as there was last year, with the event instead to be globally broadcast and digitally streamed.

For the Global Citizen Artist of the Year, judging is based on an artist’s commitment to four equally-weighted criteria: 

• Impact: Demonstrated track record of advancing programs and campaigns that have a meaningful impact on achieving the Global Goals.
• Vision: Compelling vision and long-term commitment throughout their artistic career.
• Catalyst: Inspires others to have an impact on achieving one or more of the Global Goals. 
• Global Citizenship: Demonstrates the values and embodies the spirit of a Global Citizen.

For the Global Citizen Prize for a Business Leader, judging is based on four equally-weighted criteria:

• Impact: Demonstrated track record of using the private sector to advance the Global Goals. 
• Actions taken by the individual while in a leadership position must have a specific and measurable impact in achieving one or more of the Global Goals.
• Impact will be measured at scale, with factors including: how many people, how long for, and the depth of impact.
• Actions must have resulted in a company policy change in the last 10 years.
• Vision: Demonstrated use of innovation to advance the Global Goals, with compelling plans to extend this work. 
• Catalyst: Inspires others to have an impact on achieving one or more of the Global Goals, with the individual’s actions having influence across the private sector. 
• Global Citizenship: Demonstrates the values and embodies the spirit of a Global Citizen. 

For the Global Citizen Prize for a World Leader, judging is based on four equally-weighted criteria: 

• Impact: Demonstrated track record of advancing the Global Goals. 
• Vision: Compelling vision and concrete plans for how to extend this work.
• Catalyst: Inspires others to have an impact on achieving one or more of the Global Goals.
• Global Citizenship: Demonstrates the values and embodies the spirit of a Global Citizen. 

For the Global Citizen of the Year award, judging is based on the individual’s commitment to four equally-weighted criteria: 

• Impact: Demonstrated track record of advancing programs and campaigns that have a meaningful impact on achieving the Global Goals. This impact should be exceptional and sustained.
• Vision: Demonstrated compelling vision for achieving impact and has forged a path for others to follow. The legacy of this individual’s work must be historical in its significance. 
• Catalyst: Inspires others across government, in the private sector, and at a grassroots level to take action and have an impact on achieving one or more of the Global Goals. 
• Global Citizenship: Demonstrates the values and embodies the spirit of a Global Citizen.

For the Global Citizen Prize: Cisco Youth Leadership award, judging is based on five equally-weighted criteria:

• Impact: Demonstrated track record of measurable impact at scale over last three to five years advancing one or more of the Global Goals.
• Vision: Compelling vision and concrete plans for how to extend this work in the next three to five years, including how the prize will advance efforts.
• Catalyst: Inspires other young people to have an impact on achieving one or more of the Global Goals.
• Global Citizenship: Demonstrates the values and embodies the spirit of a Global Citizen and a Global Problem Solver.
• Technological Innovation: Innovates with technology or Internet-based communications to improve efficiency, reach, and magnify impact.

For the Country Hero Award category — which will be awarded in South Africa, Nigeria, Canada, Australia, the UK, Germany, and Mexico — judging will be based on four equally-weighted criteria: 

• Impact: Demonstrated track record of measurable impact over the last year advancing one or more of the Global Goals. 
• Vision: Compelling vision and concrete plans for how to extend this work in the next one to three years. 
• Catalyst: Inspires others to have an impact on achieving one or more of the Global Goals. 
• Global Citizenship: Demonstrates the values and embodies the spirit of a Global Citizen and a Global Problem Solver. 
  

Awardees are chosen in two ways:
1. Judging Committees: The Global Citizen of the Year, World Leader, Artist of the Year, Business Leader, and Cisco Youth Leadership Awards are voted on by a committee of relevant judges, based off criteria-based evaluations created by an independent group of researchers. The Cisco Youth Leadership Award allocates one judging seat to a public vote.

For the 2020 Cisco Youth Leadership Award, applications were accepted between Aug 17-Sept 20 and then judged in an initial round against the award criteria by a group of representatives from Global Citizen, Cisco, and independent experts to create a list of semi-finalists. The semi-finalists were each interviewed and judged by a panel of representatives from Global Citizen, Cisco, esteemed non-profits, youth leaders, businesses, and leaders in the international development field, to create a shortlist of three finalists. Finally, a public voting round between Nov 17-24 between the three finalists was factored into prior judging to determine the ultimate winner of the 2020 Cisco Youth Leadership Award.

2. Global Citizen: Prizes for Culture & Education, Activism, and Philanthropy, were selected by Global Citizen and a team of advisors.

The following are judges for the Global Citizen Business Leader Prize:

• John W.H. Denton, Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce
• Alicia Tillman, Chief Marketing Officer, SAP
• Michael Sneed, Executive Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs & Chief Communication Officer, J&J
• Bea Perez, Senior Vice President and Chief Communications, Public Affairs, Sustainability and Marketing Assets Officer, Coca-cola
• Tim Mapes, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, Delta 
• Maria Martinez, Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Experience Officer, Cisco
• Stephanie Mehta, Editor in Chief, Fast Company 
• Stephanie Rhule, Senior Business Correspondent, NBC 
• Marc Prichard, Chief Brand Officer, P&G

The following are judges for the Global Citizen World Leader Prize:

• Irina Bokova, Former Director-General of UNESCO
• Professor Muhammad Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Laureate & Founder, Grameen Bank
• Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Chairman African Initiative for Governance of Chairman Coronation Capital
• Borge Brende, President of the World Economic Forum and former Foreign Minister of Norway
• Victor Madrigal, UN Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity 
• Dr. Alaa Murabit, SDG Advocate UN High-Level Commissioner 
• Vanessa Moungar, African Development Bank
• David Donoghue, Former Irish Ambassador to the UN and co-facilitator of 2030 Agenda 
• Miroslav Lajcak, Current EU Special Representative for Western Balkan and former President of the UN General Assembly
• Jeff Sachs, Professor of Economics, Director of Centre for Sustainable Development, Columbia University, Director, UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) 
• The Honourable Kevin Rudd AC, 26th Prime Minister of Australia and President, Asia Society Policy Institute
• Joe Cerrell, Managing Director of Global Policy & Advocacy, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• Princess Mabel van Oranje, Chair of Girls Not Brides/Princess of Netherlands 
• Senait Fisseha, Director of International Programs, Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation and Chief Advisor to the Director-General of the World Health Organization
• Jessica Stern, Executive Director, Outright Action International
• Dr. Vasu Gounden, Founder and Executive Director,  ACCORD
• Mark Dybul, American diplomat, former executive director of PEPFAR and The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria 
• Ban Ki-Moon, 8th United Nations Secretary-General 
• Eddie Ndopu, Award-winning activist, Humanitarian, and the UN Secretary General’s Advocate for the Global Goals for Sustainable Development
• Lilianne Ploumen, MP the Netherlands, former Minister of Development Cooperation and International Trade
• Dr. Heinz Fischer, Former President of Austria
• Vladimir Cuk, PhD. Executive Director, International Disability Alliance 
• Ambassador Paula J. Dobriansky - Senior Fellow, Harvard University, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, former U.S. Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs
• Stephen Smith, University of Western Australia, Board Member, Perth USAsia Centre. Former Foreign Minister of Australia
• Douglas Alexander, Senior Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School, and Chair of Unicef UK. 
• Penny Abeywardena, Commissioner for International Affairs, New York City 
• Trisha Shetty, Indian activist for Gender Equity, Founder of SheSays, President of the Steering Committee of the Paris Peace Forum
• Frederick Kempe, President and CEO, Atlantic Council
• Joanna Roper, Former Special Envoy for Gender Equality, HM Diplomatic Service, United Kingdom
• The Honourable Jakaya Kikwete, Former President of Tanzania 
• Ambassador Josette Sheeran, President and CEO, Asia Society Global and UN Special Envoy for Haiti
  

We’ve already announced the winners of the Global Citizen Prize: Country Hero Award, which recognizes activists and organizations that have made incredible contributions this year to the fight against extreme poverty across Mexico, the UK, Canada, Germany, Nigeria, South Africa, and Australia. You can find out all about these extraordinary individuals and organizations here. 

We have also announced the winners of the following Prizes:
Global Citizen of the Year Prize: Bryan Stevenson
Global Citizen Artist of the Year Prize: Sir Elton John
Global Citizen World Leader Prize: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen
Global Citizen Business Leader Prize: LifeBank Founder Temie Giwa-Tubosun
Global Citizen Prize for Philanthropy: Warren Buffett
Global Citizen Prize for Culture & Education: Sesame Workshop 
Global Citizen Prize for Activism: Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi, the Co-Founders of Black Lives Matter.

The winner of the Global Citizen Prize: Cisco Youth Leadership Award will be announced during broadcasts and livestreams globally — so tune in to find out who will win this year’s prestigious award, and receive $250,000 in funding to support their organization’s work. You can find a full listing of global broadcast times here.