International Children's Peace Prize facts for kids

The International Children's Peace Prize is a special award given every year to a young person. It celebrates kids who have done amazing things to help other children and make sure their rights are respected. This includes helping children who might not have parents, those who have to work when they should be in school, or children facing tough health challenges. It's known as one of the most important awards for young people around the world.

This important prize was started by Marc Dullaert. He is the founder of the KidsRights Foundation, an organization in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, that helps children and speaks up for their rights all over the world.

The winner gets a prize of 100,000 euros. This money goes to a project that helps children. They also receive a special statue called the Nkosi. It's named after a brave boy named Nkosi Johnson. The statue shows a child pushing a ball, which means that children can make big changes in the world.

The Story Behind the Prize

The very first Children's Peace Prize was announced in November 2005. This happened at a big meeting in Rome called the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates. At this meeting, winners of the Nobel Peace Prize and groups like UNICEF and Amnesty International came together. They were very happy about the new prize for children.

Remembering Nkosi Johnson

In 2005, Mikhail Gorbachev gave out the first prize. It was given to Nkosi Johnson, a young boy from South Africa. Nkosi helped the world understand the challenges faced by children with serious health conditions. He also started a special home called Nkosi's Haven to help mothers and children who needed care.

Famous People Who Presented the Award

Many important people have presented this award. In 2006, Frederik Willem de Klerk, who also won a Nobel Peace Prize, gave out the award. The ceremony took place at the Binnenhof in The Hague, which is where the Dutch parliament meets. In 2007, Bob Geldof and Nobel Peace Prize winner Betty Williams presented the prize. The famous Desmond Tutu presented the award in 2008.

Inspiring Young Finalists

In 2018, a young human rights activist from Samoa, Leilua Lino, was a finalist for the prize. This shows how many amazing young people are working for change.

Meet the Young Winners

Archbishop Desmond Tutu awarding the International Children's Peace Prize to Neha Gupta in 2014

Year	Recipient	Country
2005	Nkosi Johnson	South Africa
2006	Om Prakash Gurjar	India
2007	Thandiwe Chama	Zambia
2008	Mayra Avellar Neves	Brazil
2009	Baruani Ndume	Tanzania
2010	Francia Simon	Dominican Republic
2011	Michaela Mycroft	South Africa
2012	Kesz Valdez	Philippines
2013	Malala Yousafzai	Pakistan
2014	Neha Gupta	United States
2015	Abraham Keita	Liberia
2016	Kehkashan Basu	United Arab Emirates
2017	Mohamad Al Jounde	Syria
2018	March for Our Lives	United States
2019	Greta Thunberg	Sweden
	Divina Maloum	Cameroon
2020	Sadat Rahman	Bangladesh
2021	Vihaan and Nav Agarwal	India
2022	Rena Kawasaki	Japan
2023	Sofia Tereshchenko, Anastasia Feskova and Anastasia Demchenko	Ukraine
2024	Nila Ibrahimi	Afghanistan
2025	Bana al-Abed	Syria

Other Awards for Young Heroes

Recognizing Children's Rights Globally

There are other awards that also celebrate children's efforts. The World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child is given out every year by a Swedish group called Children's World.

Another award, also called the International Children's Peace Prize, was given by the Children as the Peacemakers Foundation in San Francisco. The Institute for Economics & Peace also has a World Children Peace Prize, and one of its winners was Licypriya Kangujam.