Expanding Freedom and Democracy

Press release November 10, 2022

The 2023 Mark Palmer Prize: Call for Nominations

Freedom House calls for nominations for the 2024 Mark Palmer Prize, which recognizes the work of those who advance democracy and human rights.

Freedom House is soliciting nominations for the 2024 Mark Palmer Prize, which recognizes exceptional achievements to protect and advance democracy by diplomats and officials serving in intergovernmental institutions. 
 
The award takes its name from the late Mark Palmer, a longtime Freedom House trustee and US ambassador to Hungary from 1986 to 1990. In 1989, as the Cold War was coming to a close, Palmer boldly joined civil society and the Hungarian democratic opposition to support the country’s transition to democracy. 
 
The Mark Palmer Prize has been awarded to diplomats and international civil servants from around the world, including Peru, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Mongolia, Sweden, Canada, Uruguay, and the United States. The prize is made possible through the generosity of the Mark and Sushma Palmer Legacy Fund, established by Sushma Palmer in loving memory of her late husband and former Freedom House trustee Ambassador Mark Palmer. 
 
Criteria 
Nominations for the Mark Palmer Prize should document the diplomat or official’s extraordinary achievements in and support for advancing democracy and human rights by accomplishing one or more of the following: 

  1. Demonstrated support for civil society’s right to freedoms of assembly, expression, and other principles as outlined in the Warsaw Declaration of the Community of Democracies 

  1. Supported efforts to assure broader political participation 

  1. Contributed significantly to assuring free and fair elections 

  1. Sustained efforts to support human rights, including actions that resulted in a release of prisoners of conscience or an end to cruel and inhuman punishment 

  1. Facilitated a broader dialogue on democratic reform 

  1. Coordinated effective international efforts to advance democracy 

  1. Identified and articulated the importance of democratic values, despite working in a closed or authoritarian society 

  1. Contributed innovative ideas and support for the consolidation of democratic institutions in countries in transition 

  1. Upheld the idea of rule of law in countries where it is not practiced 

Deadline 

Nominations must be submitted below by October 1, 2023.

 

Freedom House is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to create a world where all are free. We inform the world about threats to freedom, mobilize global action, and support democracy’s defenders.  

Mark Palmer Prize: Call for Nominations


Enter your full name

Enter the name of the person you are nominating for the 2023 Mark Palmer Prize.

Phone Number of Nominator (in case we need to contact you with follow up questions)

What is your relationship to the person you're nominating.

Provide the reason you are nominating this individual for the 2023 Mark Palmer Prize.
List 3 people who can serve as references for nomination (include name, title, email address, phone number, and relationship to nominee)