The Julia Vadala Taft Outstanding Leadership Award honors outstanding and distinguished leaders in the U.S. NGO community whose career and vision have transcended their own organization by raising the influence and effectiveness of the U.S. NGO sector. The award is named for a distinguished American humanitarian and celebrates the very best of who we are as a sector. Julia’s leadership has and will continue to inspire many in the NGO community as she mobilized its members to curb poverty and relieve human suffering abroad.

The Humanitarian Award is meant to recognize an individual or individuals whose work reflects important leadership qualities in humanitarian practice such as courage, initiative, creativity, grace under pressure, integrity, and sacrifice. Nominees will have made significant contributions in any of the following areas: COVID-19 pandemic response, disaster relief, emergency humanitarian response, human development, assistance to displaced populations, civil society, gender, economic development, health, environment, education, population, or public policy. To learn more about the Humanitarian Award, read our blog.

InterAction established the Disability Inclusion Award in collaboration with Mobility International USA in 2009 in honor of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UNCRPD). This award recognizes organizations within the sector that have worked towards greater disability inclusion by taking exceptional, proactive, and innovative measures to integrate and mainstream people with disabilities into their general programs, activities, and operations. Recipients of the awards demonstrate a commitment to ensure the full inclusion of people with disabilities and approach disability as an essential cross-cutting issue, which uses a human rights lens throughout all aspects of their organization’s work.