2018 Voltaire Awards CALL FOR NOMINATIONS FOR 2018’S THREE VOLTAIRE AWARDS
The Voltaire Award for free speech has been given annually by Liberty Victoria for many years. In 2016, we presented the inaugural ‘Empty Chair’ award. In 2017, we presented the inaugural ‘Young Voltaire’ Award to a person aged under 30 years old.
VOLTAIRE AWARD
The ‘Voltaire Award’ honours a person or group considered to have done the most for the right of free speech in the previous 12 months. It recognises those who in their work, interests or passions make an extraordinary contribution to these rights, whether it be through speaking out, writing, campaigning, whistle-blowing or defying authoritarianism. Those honoured have often gone beyond the call of duty or office by refusing to be cowed or silenced.
YOUNG VOLTAIRE AWARD
The Young Voltaire Award will be presented for the second time in 2018, to a person no older than 30 at the date of their nomination who has fulfilled the criteria for the Voltaire Award.
VOLTAIRE ‘EMPTY CHAIR’ AWARD
The Empty Chair Award will again be presented in 2018 to a person who is worthy to receive the Voltaire or Young Voltaire Award, but cannot be present to receive the award due to the consequences of their exercise of or advocacy for free speech. The 2016 Empty Chair Award was made to Saudi writer, dissident and political prisoner Raif Badawi. We were honoured that his wife Ensaf Haidar welcomed the presentation of the award to Raif. In 2017, the recipient was Iranian cartoonist Ali Dorani aka 'Eaten Fish', until recently imprisoned on Manus Island.
Liberty Victoria invites valued members to nominate a person or group you believe deserves to receive a Voltaire Award in 2018. You can nominate as many people as you like in each category. Nominations are not necessarily limited to 'natural persons' - the award can also go to a category / movement of people.
Please submit your nomination via our Voltaire Award nomination form HERE
Please note: it is important that the recipients of the Voltaire and Young Voltaire Awards be present at the Ceremony (if you do not wish to make direct contact with your nominee, we can do so if they are shortlisted for the award).
Nominations close on 31 January 2018.
Kind regards
Jessie Taylor
President
Liberty Victoria
#Voltaire2018
ABOUT THE VOLTAIRE AWARD
The Voltaire Award is named for the author of the satirical novella Candide and who is considered to be one of France's greatest writers.
Born François-Marie Arouet to an upper-middle class family in 1694, Voltaire was exiled in 1715 for mocking the Regent Orleans. Returning to Paris two years later he was arrested and locked in the Bastille for a year. He was sent to the Bastille again in 1726, before being shipped off to England. In 1733, he fled to Lorraine where he wrote Candide. By 1778, the French public had begun to see him as a literary genius, and he returned to Paris a hero, dying that year.
Besides his great works on philosophy, he is perhaps best remembered for a (probably misattributed) quotation: “I disagree with what you say but will defend to the death your right to say it.”
The Voltaire Award honours those seen to have done outstanding work for free speech. Journalists, authors, lawyers, critics, publishers, public servants and courageous whistleblowers have been among the recipients of this `Oscar’ for the right to speak without fear.