The Robert Burns Humanitarian Award
The winner of the Robert Burns Humanitarian Award 2012 will be announced at 9.00pm on Saturday 28 January.
Details of this year's winner will be published on
"Man to Man the world o'er, Shall brothers be for a' that"
This famous phrase sums up all that is best about Burns, and indeed, Scotland: our tolerance, friendship and humanity. And the simple sentiment and beautiful words are the inspiration for the Robert Burns Humanitarian Award.
Shortlist announced for Robert Burns Humanitarian Award 2012
A British midwife who saved the lives of thousands of babies and their mothers in the Congo, a group who have worked to transform the lives of deaf people across the world, and a Scots nurse who worked through gunfire and shells to treat patients from both sides of the Libyan civil war have been announced today (20 December) as finalists for a prestigious humanitarian award, named after Scots Bard, Robert Burns.
Sam Jennings (nee Perkins), a midwife working with MSF - Doctors without Borders; the Deaf History Review Editorial Team; and nurse Karen Graham, who is currently working in Tripoli, were shortlisted for the Robert Burns Humanitarian Award (RBHA) from some 26 nominations put forward by individuals and organisations from around the world.
The Robert Burns Humanitarian Award - launched in 2002 and supported by South Ayrshire Council, EventScotland and VisitScotland - recognises a group or individual who has saved, improved or enriched the lives of others or society as a whole, through personal self-sacrifice, selfless service or 'hands on' charitable work.
Winners receive the equivalent of 1759 guineas - a sum which signifies the year of the Bard's birth and the coinage then in circulation - as well as a specially commissioned award handcrafted in Scotland.
The Deaf History Review Editorial Team is a group of mainly profoundly deaf activists with an impressive record of giving to others. Their work makes a huge difference for deaf people across the world, ensuring their views are clearly enunciated and directed to the right people. The work of team members has included aid, in person, to the neglected deaf children of Romania; the provision of a free clinic; and supporting a deaf choir. Their work to promote equal opportunities for deaf people shows they are all true humanitarians and have transformed the lives of many.
The team were delighted to be named as a finalist for the Robert Burns Humanitarian Award, commenting: "No group of people in society have had their views ignored more than profoundly deaf people. When Scottish Workshop Publications was set up in 1976, many deaf authors found it impossible to get their works published, so we set out explicitly to encourage literary skills and interests among deaf people - the results have spread deaf views widely across Britain and overseas.
"Our aim is to enable the continuation of publishing books now languishing in our pipeline and we hope our nomination for the Burns Humanitarian Award will help achieve this. We have strong links with the immortal Bard in publishing 'Robert Burns and the Deaf Man's Daughter' and the widely-acclaimed 'Anthem for the World's Deaf Children, derived from Burns' Auld Lang Syne. We are grateful to the Humanitarian Award team for recognising what otherwise is solely a labour of love."
Karen Graham is a Scottish nurse who has worked in Libya for around a year, delivering the highest possible level of care for patients coming to the Oil Clinic - also known as the 11th June Clinic - in Tripoli, regardless of political affiliation or allegiance, or regard for her own personal safety. Staying put during the battle of Tripoli in August 2011 - putting the welfare of her patients and colleagues first while gunfire and shells rained down on the city - she epitomised humanitarian work in action and is an inspiration to others.
Speaking from Tripoli, Karen said: "I am both surprised and honoured to be nominated for the Burns Humanitarian Award and it's great to know that people are aware of what we're doing out here - and actually care about what we're doing. My focus has always been on doing the job - whether that's caring for oil workers and their dependants or treating major trauma patients caught up in a civil war. Everyone is a patient and deserves the best possible care - regardless of who they are. I'm just a nurse, doing what millions of nurses - including my colleagues here in Tripoli - do every day and I hope my nomination highlights not only the importance of the nursing profession, but also the quality of the British nursing profession. In that way, we're all humanitarians."
Sam Perkins is a midwife working with MSF - Doctors without Borders. Her MSF postings include Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo where she worked tirelessly to provide midwifery and maternity services to women in Masisi - an unstable conflict zone in the eastern Congo. Sam and her team helped make a massive difference for families in this area, delivering an incredible 3, 451 babies last year and keeping the mums (with the exception of six) safe and well. Her work has saved lives and made lives and makes her a deserving humanitarian.
Sam said she was happy to be nominated for the award. A spokesperson for MSF added: "Volunteers like Sam are the lifeblood of MSF's humanitarian work, delivering fully independent emergency aid to the people around the world who need it most. They come from different backgrounds, have in common a desire to help the victims of natural or man-made disasters, and are all deserving of recognition for the life saving and life preserving work they do."
The Robert Burns Humanitarian Award will be presented at the awards ceremony in the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum on Saturday 28 January.
