News

March 2022

Press Release

Announcing the 2022 Jury for the Moore Prize for Writing on Human Rights

The Christopher G. Moore Foundation is delighted to announce the jury for their sixth annual literary prize honouring books that feature human rights themes. The Prize has been established to provide funds to authors who, through their work, contribute to the universality of human rights. This unique initiative is awarded annually, as chosen by a panel of judges whose own work focuses on human rights.

The 2022 Moore Prize jury is comprised of Chief Judge Bidisha Mamata, British author and broadcaster who will be joined by jurists Avril Benoît, Executive Director of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières and Ethiopian writer, blogger and human rights activist Befekadu Hailu Techane.

“The Russian invasion of the Ukraine, and the reported atrocities, have placed a spotlight on the horror of systematic human rights violations. How society protects and values human rights are questions on the minds of many. The extraordinary members of the Moore Prize 2022 jury have devoted their lives to expanding our global awareness of human rights. Their work as judges will help shape and guide how we address pathways to advance human rights going forward.”

– Christopher G. Moore, Founder, The Moore Prize

This year’s Prize will recognise books first published between July 1st 2021 and June 30th 2022. It is an international award which is open to authors worldwide. Entry is free and works may be submitted directly by the author(s) or through a publisher. The Prize is open to any non-fiction work, published in English, which promotes the values of human rights. The winner of the prize will receive £1,000. The 2021 Moore Prize was awarded to Rosalind Russell for The End of Where We Begin.

Submissions must be received by Friday July 1st 2022 to be eligible. To submit a book, please visit cgmoorefoundation.org/prize. Full details of the long list, short list and award winners will be published on the Foundation website.

Notes to Editors:

  • The Christopher G. Moore Foundation and Moore Prize are named after Christopher G. Moore, the Canadian novelist and essayist. The Christopher G. Moore Foundation is a registered UK charity dedicated to supporting authors who promote human rights and monitor its infringements.

  • Avril Benoît is the executive director of Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières in the US, based in New York City. She has worked with the international medical humanitarian organization since 2006 in various operational management and executive leadership roles, most recently as the director of communications and development at MSF’s operational center in Geneva. Throughout her career with MSF, Avril has contributed to major movement-wide initiatives, including the global mobilization to end attacks on hospitals and health workers. She has worked as a country director and project coordinator for MSF, leading operations to provide aid to refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in Mauritania, South Sudan, and South Africa.

Prior to joining MSF, Avril had a distinguished 20-year career as an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in Canada, reporting from Kenya, Burundi, India and Brazil on HIV stigma, rapid urbanization, sexual violence in conflict, and political inclusion of women, among numerous other assignments and topics.

  • Bidisha Mamata is a broadcaster, journalist and multimedia artist. She specialises in international human rights, social justice and the arts and offers political analysis, arts critique and cultural diplomacy tying these interests together. She writes for the main UK broadsheets and presents and commentates heavily for BBC TV and radio, ITN, CNN, ViacomCBS and Sky News. Her fifth book, Asylum and Exile: Hidden Voices of London (2015), is based on her outreach work in UK prisons, refugee charities and detention centres. Her first short film, An Impossible Poison, received its London premier in 2018 and has been highly acclaimed and selected for numerous international film festivals. Her latest film series, Aurora, launched in 2020 and is ongoing. She is currently presenting the Hello Happiness audio series for Wellcome Collection, all about mental and physical health.

  • Befekadu Hailu Techane is a civil society leader, author and an advocate for the respect of human rights democracy in Ethiopia. He is co-founder and Executive Director at the Center for Advancement of Rights and Democracy (CARD), an Ethiopian civil society organisation. Prior to establishing CARD in 2019, Befekadu worked as an independent writer and activist for sociopolitical rights. He was a co-founder of the renowned Zone 9 Blogging and Activism Collective, served as an editor and opinion writer for many local print media outlets and is a weekly contributor to Deutsche Welle (Amharic Service). He was imprisoned in Ethiopia for his human rights activism in 2014 and again in 2016 but acquitted both times.

Befekadu’s work has been recognised through several human rights awards including a PEN Pinter Prize for International Writer of Courage, a Sakharov Fellowship from the European Parliament and a Freedom Fellowship from the Human Rights Foundation.

  • Adrienne Loftus Parkins is a Trustee of the Foundation and will act as an advisor and planner for the 2022 judging panel. Her vast experience includes being the Chief Judge of the Moore Prize 2021 judging panel. Adrienne is also the founder and former director of the Asia House Festival of Asian Literature where she focused on promoting contemporary pan-Asian writing and championing emerging Asian/British Asian writers throughout the UK.

  • Christopher G. Moore is a Canadian author whose writing is focused on Southeast Asia. Best known for his Calvino series of detective novels, he has also written several non-fiction works and edited anthologies of essays discussing human rights, freedom of speech and censorship.

  • The Foundation Trustees are Daniel Vaver, Christopher G. Moore, Adrienne Loftus Parkins and Busakorn Suriyasarn

  • The shortlist will be announced on Monday December 5th 2022. The winner will be announced on Wednesday January 11th 2023.