Washington Oxi Day Foundation Advisory Board Member and philanthropist Danialle Karmanos
WASHINGTON, DC, November 3, 2023- Imprisoned Hong Kong Democracy Activists, children rescuers of Save Ukraine, and the American Jewish Committee’s Rabbi Andrew Baker, were the headline honorees at the 13th Annual Oxi Courage Awards on October 23 in Washington, DC at the majestic US Institute of Peace.
Washington Oxi Day Foundation Advisory Board Member and philanthropist Danialle Karmanos presented the Courage Award to Save Ukraine for courageously rescuing abducted Ukrainian children from Russian infiltration camps.
To see the video of this presentation and Save Ukraine’s acceptance click here.
Dr. Jill Biden, First Lady addresses attendees
Washington Oxi Day Foundation Advisory Board Member and Chanos & Company President Jim Chanos presented (by video) the Courage Award to the Hong Kong Democracy Activists. The award was accepted by former Hong Kong political prisoner and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Alex Chow.
To see the video of this presentation and Chow’s acceptance, click here.
Previous honorees of the Oxi Courage Award have included
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in 2022;
- President Joe Biden and his son Beau Biden (posthumously) in 2016;
- Escaped survivor of ISIS atrocities Nadia Murad (nominated by Amal Clooney) in 2016 who then received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018;
- TIME Magazine Persons of the Year and journalists in 2019: Maria Ressa of the Philippines – who then received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 – and Jamal Khashoggi (posthumously) of Saudi Arabia;
- Currently imprisoned and twice-poisoned Russian democracy activist Vladimir Kara-Murza in 2018.
- US conflict journalist James Foley (posthumously) [introduced by President Bill Clinton], months after he became the first American publicly executed by ISIS in 2014; and
- North Korean defector Ji Seong-ho in 2017. Three months later he was featured before millions around the world in the President’s State of the Union address.
Rabbi Andrew Baker and Congressman Chris Smith
House Global Human Rights Subcommittee Chairman, Congressman Chris Smith, presented the 2023 Metropolitan Chrysostomos Award to Rabbi Andrew Baker for his remarkable lifetime of work fighting antisemitism and discrimination. Rabbi Baker joined a distinguished list of past honorees that includes: Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel; former president of Israel Shimon Peres; the spiritual head of the second largest Christian Church in the world, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew; the late civil rights crusader Congressman John Lewis; and Princess Alice, the mother of Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth’s husband.
To see the video of the presentation and acceptance by Rabbi Baker, click here.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis addresses attendees
NED President Damon Wilson with former US Ambassadors to Greece Dan Smith (2010-2013) and Geoff Pyatt (2018-2022)
The Courage Awards also featured remarks from: First Lady of the United States Dr. Jill Biden (watch here); the Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic Kyriakos Mitsotakis (watch here) and the President of the National Endowment for Democracy Damon Wilson (watch here).
Those gathered also witnessed the launch of the exciting, next chapter of the OXI Courage Awards: the “It Takes Courage” movement. The inspirational celebration of courage once a year at the Courage Awards in DC, will now be shared every day, everywhere. The launch video was introduced by Washington Oxi Day Foundation Advisory Board Member and branding legend Peter Economides.
To watch the launch of It Takes Courage, click here.
Calamos Service Award recipient Harris Pappas with John P. Calamos, Sr. and Executive Director Mike Manatos
Haseotes Service Award accepted by William Kapos with Zacharie Haseotes Vinios and Executive Director Mike Manatos
Also highlighted were the Greek-American veterans honored earlier that day at the Oxi Service at the National WWII Memorial: Calamos Service Award recipient Harris Pappas; Haseotes Service Award recipients William and George Stoukides (posthumously), and Oxi Service Award recipient Constantinos Georgiou.
Chloe Lambrinidou of Libra Philanthropies presented the winner of the Philotimo Scholarship Competition. This year’s first place essay was submitted by John Shalhoub.