Secularist of the Year

The official Secularist of the Year poster used at the award ceremony.

The Secularist of the Year (also known as the Irwin Prize) is an award presented annually to the individual considered to have made the greatest contribution to secularism in the previous year by the UK's National Secular Society. The prize consists of a trophy, the "Golden Ammonite", and a cheque for £5000. It was first awarded in 2005 and is sponsored by humanist and secularist campaigner Dr. Michael Irwin.

No award was presented in 2008, because the event was postponed to February 2009 in order to coincide with the National Secular Society's "200th Birthday Party for Charles Darwin".

Prize winners

• 2005 − Maryam Namazie, for her work in defence of women's rights and the right to freedom of expression (presented by Polly Toynbee).^[1]
• 2006 − Steve Jones, biologist at University College London and author of a number of books on evolution (presented by Dick Taverne).^[2]
• 2007 − Mina Ahadi, founder of the German Central Council of Ex-Muslims (presented by Joan Smith).^[3]
• 2009 − Evan Harris MP and Lord Avebury, joint award for their work in the abolition of blasphemy law (presented by Richard Dawkins).^[4][5]
• 2010 − The Southall Black Sisters group, for their support of black and Asian women's human rights (presented by Michael Irwin, accepted by Pragna Patel).^[6]
• 2011 − Sophie in 't Veld MEP, for her work as chair of the European Parliamentary Platform for Secularism in Politics (presented by A. C. Grayling).^[7]
• 2012 − Peter Tatchell, for his lifelong commitment to the defence of human rights against religious fundamentalism (presented by Nick Cohen).^[8][9]
• 2013 − In honour of young human rights activist Malala Yousafzai, the cash prize (presented by Michael Cashman MEP) was donated to the British children’s charity Plan UK, represented by Debbie Langdon-Davies, for its campaign to ensure equal access to education for girls worldwide.^[10][11]
• 2014 − Şafak Pavey, Turkish Member of Parliament and human rights campaigner, for her work in human rights and the promotion of the rights of women and minorities in Turkey (presented by Kerry McCarthy MP).^[12][13]
• 2015 − The staff of Charlie Hebdo magazine, for their courageous response to the terrorist attack in which several of its editors were assassinated. Cartoonist Martin Rowson accepted the prize on behalf of Charlie Hebdo, as no representatives were present due to the impracticality of the required safety arrangements.^[14]

References