Awardees
Philip Pullman, International Humanist Awardee, is the best-selling author of the book The Golden Compass, now a major motion picture from New Line Cinema. Pullman has published nearly twenty books since 1982 and has won numerous awards, including the Whitbread Book of the Year Award, the Carnegie Medal, the Guardian Children’s Book Award, and the Eleanor Farjeon Award for children’s literature.
Pullman is a distinguished supporter of the British Humanist Association and an honorary associate of the National Secular Society. He contributed to a children’s education DVD entitled “Why Atheism?” which explores atheism through the eyes of diverse individuals who do not believe in a god. His popular and sometimes controversial works champion such humanist values as kindness, love, courage, courtesy, intellectual curiosity, and opposition to organized dogma and tyranny.
Congressman Fortney H. "Pete" Stark, Humanist of the Year, has served in Congress since 1973. A senior member of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, he is currently the Chairman of its Health Subcommittee. Stark previously served as the subcommittee's Ranking Minority Member from 1995 to 2006 and as its Chairman from 1985 to 1994.
Stark champions universal health care, and speaks out for peace, freedom of choice, and protecting our environment. He is a tireless advocate for children, families, senior citizens, and people with disabilities, as well as the residents of the 13th Congressional District, a diverse area stretching along the east side of the San Francisco Bay.
In March, 2007, Stark made history by becoming the first member of Congress to ever publicly acknowledge the lack of a god belief, going on record as identifying as a nontheist. Stark is a strong backer of the separation of church and state and religious freedom.
Eleanor Smeal, Humanist Heroine, is the founder and president of the Feminist Majority Foundation, publisher of Ms. Magazine, and previously served as president of the National Organization for Women. A major leader in the modern day feminist movement, Smeal has appeared frequently in television, including The Today Show, Nightline, Good Morning America, and the Larry King Show, and has testified before Congress on women's issues.
Jamie Raskin, Humanist Distinguished Service awardee, serves as a State Senator from the state of Maryland. He is an attorney and professor of constitutional law at American University in Washington DC. Raskin has earned national recognition as a voice for democracy, and as a civil-rights and civil-liberties advocate.
On March 1, 2006, during a Maryland State Senate hearing regarding same-sex marriage, Raskin, speaking as a constitutional law expert, told a lawmaker, "People place their hand on the Bible and swear to uphold the Constitution; they don't put their hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible."
Judge John E. Jones III of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania will receive the organization's Humanist Religious Liberty Award. Judge Jones is one of the foremost defenders of evolution in public schools, ruling the teaching of "intelligent design" unconstitutional in public schools in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District. He remains outspoken on the point that intelligent design is a species of creationism and, as such, is a religious doctrine that cannot be taught as science in public schools.
Carolyn C. Porco, planetary scientist and leader of the imaging science team for the Cassini space mission to Saturn and director of the Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for Operations (CICLOPS), will be honored with the Isaac Asimov Science Award.
Porco first rose to prominence during the 1980s as a planetary scientist on the Voyager Imaging Team. She was among the first to study Voyager's results on the rings of Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, and made germinal contributions to the understanding of the interactions between planetary rings and moons.
In 1999 Porco was selected by the "London Sunday Times" as one of 18 scientific leaders of the 21st century and by "Industrial Week" as one of "50 Stars to Watch." Also, her pioneering contributions and leadership in the exploration of the outer solar system were recognized with the naming of Asteroid 7231 Porco.
Matthew LaClair is a senior at Kearny High School in Kearny, NJ and will be honored with the Humanist Pioneer Award. He has received several awards for exposing a proselytizing teacher at his school including the Ethical Humanist Award, the James Madison Liberty Award, and the ACLU Youth Activist Scholarship Award, among others. This year, he is in the midst of working to have his current history textbook revised to eliminate biases and inaccuracies regarding separation of church and state, global warming and other issues.
Matthew recently wrote an op-ed regarding his experiences, which appeared in the Sunday edition of the LA Times. He has appeared in an advocacy film produced by First Freedom First and will be the subject of an upcoming documentary regarding his experiences. He is currently on the board of directors of the Secular Student Alliance and has just begun a term as the international president of Center for Inquiry On-Campus program.