CNN Heroes

CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute is a television special created by CNN to honor individuals who make extraordinary contributions to humanitarian aid and make a difference in their communities. The program was started in 2007. Since 2016, the program was hosted by Anderson Cooper and Kelly Ripa. Honorees are introduced during the fall of each year and the audience is encouraged to vote online for the CNN Hero of the Year. Ten recipients are honored and each receive US$10,000. The top recipient is chosen as the CNN Hero of the Year and receives an additional US$100,000 to continue their work. During the broadcast celebrating their achievements, the honorees are introduced by celebrities who actively support their charity work. To celebrate the 10th anniversary, the 2016 edition had an additional segment where five previous Hero of the Year winners were chosen as candidates for the Superhero of the Year award, which was decided with an online poll.

Heroes

2007

The 18 CNN Heroes finalists for 2007 were :

Florence Cassassuce, La Paz, Mexico
Kayla Cornale, of Burlington, Ontario, Canada
Mathias Craig, of San Francisco
Irania Martinez Garcia, of Guantanamo, Cuba
Pablo Fajardo, of Ecuador
Rangina Hamidi, of Stone Ridge, Virginia, United States
Rick Hodes, of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Lynwood Hughes, of Rocky Mount, North Carolina, United States
Dallas Jessup, of Vancouver, Washington, United States
Peter Kithene, of Seattle, Washington, United States
Scott Loeff, of Chicago, Illinois, United States
Mark Maksimowicz, of St. Petersburg, Florida, United States
James McDowell, of Patchogue, New York, United States
Anne McGee, of Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Josh Miller, of Santa Monica, California, United States
Rosemary Nyirumbe, of Uganda
Steve Peifer, of Kijabe, Kenya
S. Ramakrishnan, of Ayikydy, India
Julie Rems-Smario, of Oakland, California, United States
Scott Southworth, of USA
2008

The Top 10 CNN Heroes of 2008 were :

Tad Agoglia, of Long Island, New York, United States
Yohannes Gebregeorgis, of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Carolyn LeCroy, of Norfolk, Virginia, United States
Anne Mahlum, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Liz McCartney, of St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, United States: CNN 2008 Hero of the Year
Phymean Noun, of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
David Puckett, of Savannah, Georgia, United States
Maria Ruiz, of El Paso, Texas, United States
Marie Da Silva, of, residing in Los Angeles, California, United States
Viola Vaughn, of Kaolack, Senegal
2009

The Top 10 CNN Heroes of 2009 were :

Jorge Munoz, of Queens, New York, United States
Jordan Thomas, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States
Budi Soehardi, of Kupang, Indonesia
Betty Makoni, of London, United Kingdom
Doc Hendley, of Blowing Rock, North Carolina, United States
Efren Peñaflorida, of Cavite City, Philippines: 2009 CNN Hero of the Year
Derrick Tabb, of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Roy Foster, of Palm Beach, Florida, United States
Andrea Ivory, of West Park, Florida, United States
Brad Blauser, of Dallas, Texas, United States
2010

The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2010 :

Guadalupe Arizpe De La Vega of Juarez, Mexico
Susan Burton of California, United States
Linda Fondren of Mississippi, United States
Anuradha Koirala of Kathmandu, Nepal: 2010 CNN Hero of the year
Narayanan Krishnan of Madurai, India
Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow of Scotland, United Kingdom
Harmon Parker of Kenya, Africa
Aki Ra of Siem Reap, Cambodia
Evans Wadongo of Kenya, Africa
Dan Wallrath of Texas, United States

Also all of the 33 Chilean Miners came on the show to be honored after the 2010 Copiapó mining accident before awards were given out to the list of heroes shown above. Kareem Taylor is the promotional voice for the commercial campaign leading up to the show.

2011

The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2011 :

Eddie Canales of Texas, United States
Taryn Davis of North Carolina, United States
Sal Dimiceli of Wisconsin, United States
Derreck Kayongo of Atlanta, United States
Diane Latiker of Chicago, United States
Robin Lim of Bali, Indonesia: 2011 CNN Hero of the year
Patrice Millet of Haiti
Bruno Serato of Anaheim, California, United States
Richard St. Denis of Mexico
Amy Stokes of South Africa
2012

The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2012 :

Pushpa Basnet of Kathmandu, Nepal: 2012 CNN Hero of the year
Wanda Butts of Ohio, United States
Mary Cortani of California, United States
Catalina Escobar of Cartagena, Colombia
Razia Jan of Afghanistan, with an organization located in Massachusetts, United States
Thulani Madondo of Kliptown, South Africa
Leo McCarthy of Montana, United States
Connie Siskowski of New Jersey, United States
Scott Strode of Colorado, United States
Malya Villard-Appolon of Kofaviv, Haiti

The 3 Young Wonders of 2012 :

Cassandra Lin
Will Lourcey
Jessica Rees
2013

The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2013 :

Dale Beatty, co-founder of Purple Heart Homes
George Bwelle
Robin Emmons
Danielle Gletow, founder of One Simple Wish
Tawanda Jones
Richard Nares
Kakenya Ntaiya
Chad Pregracke of the USA: 2013 CNN Hero of the year
Estella Pyfrom, creator of "Estalla's Brilliant Bus"
Laura Stachel
2014

The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2014 :

Arthur Bloom of the United States
Jon Burns of the United Kingdom
Pen Farthing of the United Kingdom: 2014 CNN Hero of the year
Elimelech Goldberg of the United States
Leela Hazzah of Kenya
Patricia Kelly of the United States
Annette March-Grier of the United States
Ned Norton of the United States
Juan Pablo Romero Fuentes of Guatemala
Dr. Wendy Ross of the United States

The 3 Young Wonders of 2014 :

Lily Born
Maria Keller, Read Indeed,
Joshua Williams, Joshua's Heart
2015

The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2015:

Maggie Doyne, of New Jersey, United States: 2015 CNN Hero of the year
Jim Withers, United States
Monique Pool, of Suriname
Richard Joyner, United States
Sean Gobin, United States
Bhagwati Agrawal, India
Kim Carter, United States
Rochelle Ripley, United States
Jody Farley-Berens
Daniel Ivankovich, United States
2016

The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2016:

Jeison Aristizábal of Cali, Colombia: 2016 CNN Hero of the year
Craig Dodson, United States
Sherri Franklin, United States
Brad Ludden, United States
Luma Mufleh, United States
Georgie Smith, United States
Umra Omar, Kenya
Sheldon Smith, United States
Becca Stevens, United States
Harry Swimmer, United States
'''Pushpa Basnet, of Kathmandu, Nepal: 10th Anniversary CNN SuperHero'''
2017

The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2017:

Stan Hays
Samir Lakhani
Jennifer Maddox
Rosie Mashale
Andrew Manzi
Leslie Morissette
Mona Patel
Khali Sweeney
Aaron Valencia
'''Amy Wright: 2017 CNN Hero of the year'''
2018

The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2018:

Abisoye Ajayi-Akinfolarin
Maria Rose Belding
Amanda Boxtel
Rob Gore
Luke Mickelson
Susan Munsey
Florence Phillips
Ricardo Pun-Chong: 2018 CNN Hero of the Year
Ellen Stackable
Chris Stout
2019

The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2019 each received US$10,000. The 2019 CNN Hero of the Year received an additional US$100,000. The top 10 CNN Heroes of 2019:

Staci Alonso, Noah's Animal House
Najah Bazzy, Zaman International
Woody Faircloth, RV4CampfireFamily.org
Freweini Mebrahtu, 2019 CNN Hero of the Year, Dignity Period
Mark Meyers
Richard Miles
Roger Montoya
Mary Robinson
Afroz Shah
Zach Wigal

The 4 Young Wonders of 2019 :

Jemima Browning, Tadcaster Stingrays
Grace Callwood, We Cancerve Movement
Bradley Ferguson, Post Crashers
Jahkil Jackson, Project I Am
2020

The 14th Annual CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute focused solely on inspirational heroes from the biggest stories of the year—the fight against coronavirus and the battle for racial equity and social justice. Frontline workers, advocates, scientists, Young Wonders and everyday people were saluted and 8 nonprofit organizations working to tackle these issues were highlighted. Each organization received $10,000 and viewers were encouraged to donate to these vetted, trusted organizations.
In lieu of the traditional Top 10 and CNN Hero of the Year, the 2020 edition saw viewers selecting the year's Most Inspirational Moments.
The nonprofit organizations highlighted included:

AdoptAClassroom.org

*
*

Equal Justice Initiative

Make-A-Wish America
Water.org
World Central Kitchen

The 3 Young Wonders of 2020 :

,
,
,
2021

The 15th Annual CNN Heroes All-Star Tribute returned to the long-running shows' traditional format honoring the Top 10 CNN Heroes of 2021 with viewers voting online for the CNN Hero of the Year. Shirley Raines was selected as the 2021 CNN Hero of the Year.
Honorees included:

Jennifer Colpas, Colombia -
Lynda Doughty, United States -
David Flink, United States -
Dr. Patricia Gordon, United States -
Hector Guadalupe, United States -
Michele Neff Hernandez, United States -
Zannah Mustapha, Nigeria -
Shirley Raines, United States -
Made Janur Yasa, Indonesia -

Young Wonders recognized included:

Chelsea Phaire, United States -
Jordan Mittler, United States - Mittler Senior Technology
2022

The 16th Annual CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute premiered live on Sunday December 11, 2022. Nelly Cheboi was selected by viewers as the 2022 CNN Hero of the Year.
Honorees included:

Carie Broeker - Pacific Grove, CA
Richard Casper - Nashville, TN
Nelly Cheboi - Mogotio, Kenya and Shabbona, IL
Nora El-Khouri Spencer - Carrboro, NC
Tyrique Glasgow - Philadelphia, PA
Teresa Gray - Anchorage, AK
Meymuna Hussein-Cattan - Santa Ana, CA
Aidan Reilly - Santa Ana, CA
Debra Vines - Maywood, IL
Bobby Wilson - Atlanta, GA

Young Wonders recognized included:

Ruby Chitsey - Harrison, AR
Sri Nihal Tammana - Edison, NJ