Past laureates
Past laureates
![“The prize money was never for me, it was always for the women and the children of the community. Thanks to the prize I was able to build the schools and bakery and start growing food in the fields.”Nansen Award winner 2013, Sister Angelique Namaika, poses for a portrait in the fields where her community agricultural project is located in Dungu. Sister Angelique Namaika (51), who was the winner of UNHCR’s Nansen Refugee Award in 2013, poses for a portrait in Dungu.](/uk/sites/uk/files/RF2228678_26.jpg)
More than 60 Nansen Refugee Award laureates
The first person to win the Nansen Refugee Award, in 1954, was Eleanor Roosevelt, first chair of the UN Human Rights Commission and former First Lady of the United States.
Since then, more than 60 individuals, groups or organizations have received the Award for their extraordinary service to refugees, displaced and stateless people. Since 2017, we have also recognized several Regional Winners each year for their humanitarian efforts.
The 2023 global laureate is Abdullahi Mire, a journalist and former refugee from Somalia who has championed the right to education while putting 100,000 books in the hands of displaced children and youth in Kenya.
Global laureates
Regional winners
Each year, the UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award recognizes several individuals, groups or organizations that have shown exceptional dedication in protecting and assisting refugees, internally displaced or stateless people.