Human Rights Awards (Australia)

The Human Rights Awards are a series of awards for achievements in the field of human rights in Australia, bestowed by the Australian Human Rights Commission at the Human Rights Day Ceremony in December in each year.

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History

The Human Rights Awards were established in 1987 by the then Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission "to recognise the contributions of individuals across the nation who made it their life's mission to champion human rights, social justice, and equality for all". The award began as an event to recognise human rights in film, television and literature, but as of 2021 covers a wider spectrum. Of the original categories, only the Human Rights Medal has endured.
In 2020, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, instead of the awards ceremony, ten "Human Rights Heroes" were recognised as finalists, including the Torres Strait 8 and Corey Tutt.

Past categories

In 1990 categories included:

Poetry Award
Drama Award
Prose Award
Film Award
Songwriting Award
Television Drama Award
Television Documentary Award
Radio Documentary/ Current Affairs Award
Metropolitan Newspapers Award
Regional Newspapers Award
Magazines Award

The Literature Award, Print and Online Media Award, Radio Award, and Television Awards were discontinued in 2015.
In 2018 the categories included:

Human Rights Medal
Young People's Human Rights Medal
Law Award
Business Award
Government Award
Racism. It Stops With Me Award
Tony Fitzgerald Memorial Community Individual Award
Community Organisation Award
Media Award
Government Award (created 2018

Description

, there are three award categories:

Human Rights Medal
Young People's Medal
Community Human Rights Champion

The Australian Human Rights Commission receives nominations for the Human Rights Awards and Medals categories, with the choice of recipient made by an independent panel. The individual Human Rights Award and Medal is awarded only to an individual who, to be eligible, must have made an outstanding contribution to the promotion and protection of human rights in Australia in at least one of the following areas:

Taking action to overcome discrimination or infringements of human rights within Australia
Encouraging greater social harmony within Australia in a range of areas such as race relations, gender equality and the treatment of children and young people
Enhancing the rights of Indigenous Australians
Promoting equal opportunity for people with a disability in Australia or countering discrimination on the basis of age or sexuality.
Increasing awareness of issues of injustice or inequality in Australia.

In addition, the entrants must be a lawful resident of Australia.
The awards are usually bestowed by the AHRC on Human Rights Day each year, with a ceremony prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and announced online since then.