Children's Peace Prize for young people who got America moving

For the fourth year we were responsible for generating publicity around the Children's Peace Prize, an initiative of Marc Dullaert who was surprised that children were never eligible for the Nobel Peace Prize, while they were eligible for it through their initiatives and decisiveness. should be eligible. This prize was awarded for the 14th time this year. Malala, for example, previously won this prize.

This year the ceremony was extra special. For the first time, this prize was not awarded in the Ridderzaal in The Hague, but in Cape Town. As a token of appreciation to Desmond Tutu who has been the patron of this prize and of Kidsrights for the past ten years and who would present the prize this year. The ceremony was once again beautiful and very emotional. Not least because of the winners who received this prize this year: The four students who took the initiative for the March of Our Lives after 17 young people and employees were shot dead at their school during a school shooting. They managed to initiate an America-wide and global movement in which young people demand their right to grow up in an environment not dominated by violence and weapons.

For us (especially Diane) this meant that we had to work remotely. Following the ceremony from the office via live tram is different from experiencing the ceremony in the Ridderzaal itself. Through collaboration with Kidsrights, Jolanda van Beerse and the APCO agencies in the United States, Germany and England, we have been able to generate worldwide attention for this award. Immediately after the embargo expired, there was a lot of media attention, both in The Netherlands as in England, Germany as in the USA. Special appreciation for this News hour who flew to the United States especially to personally speak to and follow the four young people.