Helen Prize - a prize in praise of Bolder Women Invitation to become a member of the Helen Prize Have the possibility to nominate a woman for the Helen Prize Board of directions Officers Advisory board Print version of the application Helen Prize for Women - In Finnish

HELEN PRIZE - A PRIZE IN PRAISE OF BOLDER WOMEN
The Helen Prize is an international award to celebrate the accomplishments of women. It honours all women - those in traditional as well as non-traditional jobs, those in developing countries along with those in industrialized countries. It respects and acknowledges the multitude of women who contribute positively to life on this planet.

The Helen Prize is the vision of Dr. Akhtar Naraghi, Montreal poet and writer, who named the prize after Dr. Helen Caldicott, founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility, who has devoted years of her life to the cause of peace and passionately spends time and energy in raising the conscience of the world. She inspires all of us to make changes in our everyday lives, to know that every action we take is important.
Helen Caldicott became world-renowned as a fiery antinuclear activist and head of Physicians for Nuclear Responsibility - mostly thanks to ”If you Love This Planet”, the Academy Award-winning documentary by the National Film Board of Canada.

In 1985 her group won the Nobel Peace Prize, but by then she had been pushed aside and the award was accepted by an American and a Russian Doctor, both male. Two years later, Dr. Caldicott described what had happened at a women’s conference in Dublin, ending with the reminder: ”That’s my story. Each of you has a story, each of you has been denied something because you are a woman.

Akhtar Naraghi heard Helen Caldicott. In 1987 Naraghi brought together a number of prominent activist women from all around the world and established the International Organization of the Helen Prize for Women. It took ten years of hard work to promote the prize around the globe, a prize named for Dr. Caldicott, to hono unknown Helens who, on center stage or in some obscure corner, have given of themselves to create, defend and enchange the beauty and value of life.

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INVITATION TO BECOME A MEMBER OF THE HELEN PRIZE
You are invited to become a member of The Helen Prize by sending a tax-deductible donation to the amount of your choice from 10 $ up (student 5$). This yearly membership donation affords you the privilege of nominating a woman for The Helen Prize as well as giving you a charitable tax deduction receipt.

You are also invited to develop teams in your own community/country to discover unknown Helens and to raise money so that significant support may be given to honour women and their work. We hope you will SPREAD THE NEWS by distributing The Helen Prize pamphlets, The Helen Prize book with the nominations of all the women who have been awarded the Helen prize each year, and by other creative ways that acknowledge and encourage women in their contributions to their communities and the world.

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HAVE THE POSSIBILITY TO NOMINATE A WOMAN FOR THE HELEN PRIZE
Please fill in the enclosed biographical information form and on a separate sheet of paper (max. one page) write to what extent you know your nominee, in what capacity, for how long, and add any information you deem necessary to know about her , the humanitarian work she has carried out, the causes she believes in, her impact on her society, her merits, devotions, etc.
The award is presented on the 8th of March annually.

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BOARD OF DIRECTIONS
President
Arpe Hamalian
Professor , Concordia University
President of the Quebec Federation of University Professors Olga Huk-Papanstasiou, M.D.
Orthopaedic Surgeon
McGill University Kaarina Kailo, Ph.D.
Professor, Chair of Women’s Studies and Multiculturalism
University of Oulu
Faculty of Education
P.O.BOX 222
FIN-90014 University of Oulu

International Organization of the Helen Prize for Women

P.O.BOX 781 Place Du Parc,
MONTREAL, QUEBEC
H2W 2P3 CANADA
Tel. (514) 931-1911
Fax: (514) 931-9536