Community of Christ International Peace Award

The twelfth annual Community of Christ International Peace Award will be presented to Craig Kielburger on July 21, during the International Youth Forum (IYF) at the Community of Christ Temple in Independence, Missouri. The ceremony will be webcast live at 8:00 p.m. central time. Craig will deliver a keynote address and receive a sculpture and a $32,000 grant (sponsored by Bank of America) to benefit Free the Children.

Craig founded Free the Children at age 12. Now 22, he has been at the center of this organization’s rapid growth into an international network of children helping children at local, national, and international levels through representation, leadership, and action. The organization has 100,000 youth involved in 35 countries.

Peace and Justice Ministries coordinator Andrew Bolton said, “Craig is the youngest recipient of the Community of Christ International Peace Award. We believe he will inspire young people at IYF, showing how they too can make a difference in our troubled world when they go back home.” Worship specialist Eileen Terril said, “His program of ministry to and by children will really speak to our young people who are concerned about what they can do right now.”

The primary goal of Free the Children is not only to free children from poverty and exploitation, but also to free children and young people from the idea that they are powerless to bring about positive social change and to improve the lives of their peers. Free the Children is unlike any other children’s charity in the world, as it is an organization by, of, and for children that fully embodies the notion that children and young people themselves can be leaders of today in creating a more just, equitable and sustainable world.

The Community of Christ International Peace Award has been given annually (with the exception of 1996) since 1993 at Community of Christ World Headquarters during significant events, including the annual Peace Colloquy, the biennial World Conference, and the International Youth Forum (held every four years).  In terms of cash value, the Community of Christ International Peace Award has been placed among the top 20 international, non-governmental peace awards in the world (in a list topped by the Nobel Peace Prize) and among the top seven in the United States.¹

Recipients represent diversity in terms of ethnicity, gender, and faith. The Community of Christ International Peace Award honor roll includes Rev. James Lawson, Jean Vanier, Ela Gandhi, Swanee G. Hunt, John Paul Lederach, Jane Goodall, Marie Fortune, Juan M. Flavier, Marian Wright Edelman, M. Scott Peck and Lily Peck, and Jehan Sadat.

 1.  Peter van den Dungen, "Peace Prizes," Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, and Conflict, Volume 2, 1999, pages 795-808.