Global Citizen is a movement of engaged citizens who are using their collective voice to end extreme poverty by 2030. On our platform, Global Citizens learn about the systemic causes of extreme poverty, take action on those issues, and earn rewards for their actions — as part of a global community committed to lasting change. 

Since the first Global Citizen Festival in New York in 2012, Global Citizen has grown into one of the largest, most visible platforms for people around the world calling on world leaders to honor their responsibilities in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and ending extreme poverty by 2030. 

Global Citizens have so far mobilized $48.5 billion in commitments and policy announcements from leaders that have impacted the lives of 880 million people living in extreme poverty. 

Global Citizen promotes advocacy rather than fundraising. That’s because, while the money we give as individuals is important, in order to bring about the end of extreme poverty we also need governments and businesses to play their part — by changing rules, practices, and allocating their budgets to funding the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Rather than asking for donations, we ask Global Citizens to raise their voices through taking action with us — signing petitions, sending tweets, calling up politicians, and more. 

Together, our combined voices put pressure on governments and businesses to contribute meaningfully to the fight to end extreme poverty. 

The Global Citizen Prize: Celebrating the World’s Most Inspiring Activists is an awards ceremony that shines a light on world leaders, artists, business leaders, and youth activists who keep the world’s poor at the forefront of their life’s work. 

The Prize recognizes remarkable changemakers working to take exceptional actions to end extreme poverty in their own communities, and foster social change across the globe. 

In addition to the Prizes, the evening will feature calls-to-action for Global Citizens everywhere to join our movement to end extreme poverty, as well as inspiring musical performances by seminal artists of our generation. 

Amid the holiday season, we will pause and celebrate individuals taking exceptional action to end extreme poverty and living every day as a Global Citizen. 

At the Global Citizen Prize in December, we’ll award the following: 

• The Cisco Youth Leadership Award honors an individual aged 18-30 who has contributed meaningfully toward the goal of ending extreme poverty. The award, sponsored by Cisco, includes a $250,000 prize paid to the organization through which the individual has achieved impact. 
• The Global Citizen Prize for Artist honors a creative individual or group who uses their platform and their work to create change not only through conversation but through meaningful impact. The award includes a $150,000 prize paid to the organization through which the individual has achieved impact. 
• The Global Citizen Prize for Business Leader honors an individual in the business community who has combined business goals with positive human impact. 
• The Global Citizen Prize for World Leader honors an individual in the political or advocacy space who has advocated for and implemented policy changes that have actionably improved the lives of those suffering the effects of poverty. 
• The Prize for Global Citizen of the Year honors an individual who has proven exceptional and sustained impact towards the goal of ending extreme poverty. This individual’s body of work must be extraordinary in its scope. 
  
  
  

For the Cisco Youth Leadership award, judging is based on five equally-weighted criteria:

• Impact: Demonstrated track-record of measurable impact at scale over last three to five years advancing one or more of the Global Goals.
• Vision: Compelling vision and concrete plans for how to extend this work in the next three to five years, including how the prize will advance efforts.
• Catalyst: Inspires other young people to have an impact on achieving one or more of the Global Goals.
• Global Citizenship: Demonstrates the values and embodies the spirit of a Global Citizen and a Global Problem Solver.
• Technological Innovation: Innovates with technology or Internet-based communications to improve efficiency, reach, and magnify impact.

For the Artist prize, judging is based on an artist’s commitment to four equally-weighted criteria: 

• Impact: Demonstrated track record of advancing programs and campaigns that have a meaningful impact on achieving the Global Goals.
• Vision: Compelling vision and long-term commitment throughout their artistic career.
• Catalyst: Inspires others to have an impact on achieving one or more of the Global Goals. 
• Global Citizenship: Demonstrates the values and embodies the spirit of a Global Citizen.

For the Business Leader prize, judging is based on four equally-weighted criteria:

• Impact: Demonstrated track record of using the private sector to advance the Global Goals. 
• Vision: Demonstrated use of innovation to advance the Global Goals. Compelling plans to extend this work. 
• Catalyst: Inspires others to have an impact on achieving one or more of the Global Goals. 
• Global Citizenship: Demonstrates the values and embodies the spirit of a Global Citizen. 

For the World Leader prize, judging is based on four equally-weighted criteria: 

• Impact: Demonstrated track record of advancing the Global Goals. 
• Vision: Compelling vision and concrete plans for how to extend this work.
• Catalyst: Inspires others to have an impact on achieving one or more of the Global Goals.
• Global Citizenship: Demonstrates the values and embodies the spirit of a Global Citizen. 

For the Global Citizen of the Year prize, judging is based on the individual’s commitment to four equally-weighted criteria: 

• Impact: Demonstrated track record of advancing programs and campaigns that have a meaningful impact on achieving the Global Goals. This impact should be exceptional and sustained.
• Vision: Demonstrated compelling vision for achieving impact and has forged a path for others to follow. The legacy of this individual’s work must be historical in its significance. 
• Catalyst: Inspires others across government, in the private sector, and at a grassroots level to take action and have an impact on achieving one or more of the Global Goals. 
• Global Citizenship: Demonstrates the values and embodies the spirit of a Global Citizen.
  

For every prize except the Cisco Youth Leadership Prize, members prize selection committee submitted up to two nominations each for individuals to be considered for the prize.

Selection committee members reviewed research briefs on the nominees and selected their first, second, and third choice for winners. Their votes were then tallied to determine our final winners. 

For the Cisco Youth Leadership Award, there was an initial round of applications, with applicants judged against the award criteria by a group of representatives from Global Citizen, Cisco, and independent experts to create a list of semi-finalists. 

The semi-finalists were then judged by a panel of representatives from Global Citizen, Cisco, esteemed social enterprises, youth leaders, UN Agencies, businesses, and other leaders in the international development field, to create a shortlist of five candidates. 

Each of the finalists will attend the award ceremony in London in December — where the final winner will be announced. 

The Global Citizen Prize is an evolution of the George Harrison Prize: a humanitarian honor awarded to an artist who demonstrated excellence in music and activism. The 2016 prize, in its inaugural year, was awarded to George Harrison himself, while the 2017 award was presented to Annie Lennox, both a world-renowned musician and a global humanitarian.

The Global Citizen Prize was launched in 2018 for the categories of World Leader and Youth Leadership. These were presented live on stage at the Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 in in Johannesburg, South Africa, to Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway; and Kenyan food and nutrition activist Wawira Njiru.

Njiru, winner of the 2018 Global Citizen Prize for Youth Leadership, sponsored by Cisco, recognized as a child that other children were often victims of poverty. She was inspired to create a system by which families could prepay their children’s school lunches using RFID technology so that they could eat lunch more consistently.  

Her program, Food for Education, also helps feed children who otherwise can’t afford to eat. Thanks in part to winning the Cisco Youth Leadership Award in 2018, her program now feeds more than 10,000 schoolchildren a day in Kenya. 

You can read more about Njiru and her remarkable achievements here. 

The ceremony is being hosted at London’s iconic Royal Albert Hall on Dec. 13, 2019. 

Yes! You can tune in to watch Global Citizen Prize wherever you are, starting with the world premiere on Dec. 20 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. Also in the US, you can catch the show on MSNBC on Dec. 22 at 10 p.m. ET and Dec. 31 at 11 p.m. ET.  

In the UK,  tune in on Dec. 21 at 7 p.m. GMT on Sky One. Our good friends at MTV will be broadcasting worldwide on Dec. 27 & 28 on MTV World Stage. Check your local listings for more info. 

Global Citizens in Africa, you can catch the show on M-Net 101 on Jan. 1, 2020, at 9 p.m. SAST.

The show will be hosted by John Legend, with performances from Jennifer Hudson, John Legend, Raphael Saadiq, Sting, and Stomzy. Chris Martin and H.E.R. will also perform as special guests. 

Global Citizen campaigns on the UN’s Global Goals, a 17-step roadmap to ending extreme poverty by 2030. 

As well as the hard work from individuals, organisations, and governments around the world that’s necessary in that mission, it’s also important that we take stock of the progress that the world has already made — and celebrate the people behind that progress as a way to inspire future action. 

Since 1990, the number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen from nearly 1.9 billion to about 650 million in 2018. Now, as we head into the 10-year countdown to 2030, it’s more important than ever than we celebrate the world’s progress and carry that momentum forward into the next decade. 

The Global Citizen Prize is the first major event of Global Citizen’s 2020 campaign, Global Goal Live: The Possible Dream. 

Global Citizen, in partnership with Teneo, the global CEO advisory firm, is conducting a year-long campaign to get the world back on track to achieve the UN’s Global Goals by 2030. 

Working alongside, and in support of, the United Nations, the Global Goal Live campaign will call on governments, philanthropists, and the private sector to step forward, take responsibility for the goals, and provide the $350 billion needed annually for people and the planet to achieve the Global Goals in the poorest countries. 

You can get in touch by emailing contact@globalcitizen.org.