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The BHC’s Human of the Year: rules for nomination and granting of awards

The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee’s annual Human of the Year awards ceremony honors individuals, groups and organizations that have distinguished themselves through advocacy in support of the rights of vulnerable individuals and groups in Bulgarian society, as well as the protection of nature. The award is given by an independent jury and is presented on or around December 10th, Human Rights Day, each year.

Nominations

Individuals and organizations from Bulgaria or abroad can submit nominations for the Human of the Year Award at any time during the year in which the award is presented up to the nomination deadline. To be eligible, nominees must meet the following criteria:

  1. Between October 15th of the previous year and November 15th of the current year, they have advocated for the rights of vulnerable individuals and groups in Bulgarian society, for animal protection, or for nature conservation. The nominated activities should meet at least one of the following conditions: set a precedent in the field of human rights; have significant potential to encourage active citizenship; inspire others to act; be distinguished by civic bravery; and be innovative and original.
  2. They accept their nomination and recognition by the BHC for their advocacy activities, including possibly receiving the award and having their name and a description of their work published on the Human of the Year website, as well as the other communication channels of the BHC.
  3. They have not made statements against or violated human, animal, and environmental rights.

Proposals shall be made within the timeframe and in the manner announced by the BHC on its website and through other communication channels. Proposals made by other means or outside the deadline will not be accepted. Applications will be checked for eligibility by members of the BHC team. Any that do not meet the criteria will not move forward to the final selection.

All finalists meeting the criteria will be announced on the Human of the Year website after the jury has convened. If a nomination should be disqualified during this process, it will be removed from the Human of the Year website.

The Jury

The jury of the Human of the Year Awards is determined annually by the BHC’s governing bodies. It is composed of people who have distinguished themselves through their activities and public positions in defense of human rights and nature. Members of the jury must meet point 3 of the nomination criteria above. They agree to be guided by these rules. The chairperson of the jury is the BHC Chair. The Director of the Campaigns and Communications Program is also a member of the jury.

The members of the jury receive no remuneration for their work. If a jury member is nominated for an award, their nomination may not be included in the allocation of prizes. If a juror’s relative, whether by blood or by marriage, or a member of an organization where they are affiliated or work is nominated for an award, the juror shall not participate in the voting for that nomination.

The jury will attend the award ceremony for Human of the Year either in person or by videoconference. They decide among themselves which jury member should present which honoree with an award.

Awards Selection

The jury will decide on the nomination procedure, the awards given, and matters relating to the awards ceremony.

It shall decide on the awards when it convenes through a simple majority vote among the members present. The jury shall convene in person and at the invitation of the BHC Campaigns and Communications Program Director. The BHC Chair or a Co-chair will serve as chairperson of the jury. Jury members who are unable to participate in person can attend via videoconference, and the BHC will provide the means to facilitate this. If a jury member is absent from the awards meeting, they may submit their list of favorites in advance and authorize another member to represent them in the final vote. A member of the jury may only represent one absent person. Authorization for this shall be requested in writing by e-mail to the jury chairperson and the BHC Campaigns and Communications Program Director.

At the award meeting, the jury shall determine by its own decision the order in which the winners and the names of the award categories shall be announced.

Each member of the jury shall present their list of favorites, the number of which is to be determined by the chairperson of the jury according to the number of nominations received that year.

On the basis of these proposed favorites, a shortlist of jury favorites will be drawn up.

The winners of the Human of the Year Award will be selected from the nominees on this shortlist by a vote.

Voting on Other Matters

The jury may decide by email on the nomination procedure, the disqualification of nominees, and matters relating to the awards ceremony by a simple majority of those who cast a vote.

Any member of the jury may call for a vote on these matters. Voting by email may result in the disqualification of prizewinners, but it may not re-allocate prizes already decided upon at the jury meeting or award additional prizes.

When email voting is used, due to the fixed deadlines for the organization of the award ceremony activities, a deadline for the acceptance of votes will be set by the BHC Campaigns and Communications Program Director. A valid email vote is one in which at least half of the jury members have participated by the deadline. 

The Awards Ceremony

The date and venue of the Human of the Year Awards ceremony will be determined by the BHC Campaigns and Communications Program Director, on or around December 10th. The ceremony will be open to the public and broadcast on the BHC’s social media channels. Jury members, nominees or award winners may state in advance that they do not wish for their names and faces to be displayed on these channels. In the event that they do not do so, it will be assumed that they have given their consent.

Invited guests and journalists are allowed in the room where the ceremony will take place. The names of the prizewinners may not be announced before the ceremony. All public statements by members of the jury or members of the BHC team must be coordinated with the BHC Campaigns and Communications Program Director, who will also determine the ceremony procedure. A script shall be provided to the members of the jury.

Award winners will receive plaques and certificates noting the award and the category in which it was received. As a rule, an award winner in the respective category receives one certificate and one plaque. As an exception and at the discretion of the BHC Campaigns and Communications Program Director, plaques and certificates may be awarded to more than one awardee in a given category. All nominees, with the exception of those who have been disqualified, will receive certificates.

Examples of grounds for nomination

  • Advocating for the rights of children in Bulgaria
  • Being an activist for the rights of women and LGBTI people
  • Defending the freedom of expression of citizens/media
  • Working for the independence of the judiciary
  • Dedicating time and work to the protection of the environment and the rights of animals
  • Working to defend the rights of ethnic minorities in Bulgaria

Anti-discrimination policy

In assessing the eligibility and merits of the nominees, the jury shall adhere to the following rules:

  1. Refrain from any preference or bias based on irrelevant characteristics such as gender, age, ethnicity/race, sexual orientation, health status, religious and other beliefs; and
  2. Refrain from using other, seemingly neutral, criteria (such as length of activity) that disproportionately disadvantage groups defined by protected characteristics when such usage is not strictly necessary.

The jury shall take protected characteristics into account only when they are relevant to the selection and evaluation criteria, i.e., when they give the candidate additional weight for one or more of these criteria (e.g., a person from a vulnerable group shows courage that is particularly significant given their vulnerability and the burdens/difficulties they face; or a religious organization advocates for a sexual minority, which makes the act a special precedent and/or gives it particular potential for social unity, etc.).

The jury does not seek to achieve representativeness of the award winners in terms of protected characteristics. However, in the process of soliciting and collecting nominations, the BHC welcomes nominations from all communities to ensure maximum representativeness of the candidates. The determination of the eligibility of nominations and their ranking, however, is subject only to the criteria for consideration listed above.