By Christopher Michael Barredo

The award was first brought to the attention of a surprised HAPI executive director Jennifer C. Gutierrez last May 26 for her contributions to the humanist cause. Although she was unable to attend the rally itself, HAPI-USA Donor/Member Lyle Villahermosa, RN,  received and accepted the award in her place.

Our Members attended and mixed it up with the crowd wearing their HAPI shirts as they showed support and patronage to the HAPI organization and our fellow humanists who attended the said event.

We are thrilled to announce the winners of our latest Heart of Humanism Awards. This year’s awards recognize the outstanding community service of local groups who are part of our Beyond Belief Network program, as well as individuals who made extraordinary contributions to compassionate humanism. The awards were given out at the Reason Rally mini-con in Washington, D.C. on June 5.

In addition to being eligible for these awards, our BBN teams are also eligible for perks such as t-shirts, and the opportunity to apply for grants for service projects.

Congratulations to this year’s winners!

The winners for 2015 are: 

Humanism at Work (for the most volunteer hours)
Springfield Skeptics

Eat. Sleep. Volunteer. Repeat. (for the most volunteer events in a calendar year)
Austin Humanists at Work

Rookie of the Year (for the best new team of the year)
Springfield Skeptics

Humanist Communication (for the best event reporting)
Lehigh Valley Humanists

Gimme Food and Shelter (for outstanding contributions to causes related to homelessness and food)
Austin Humanists at Work

Backbone Volunteers (for a team that played a consistent and reliable role in a local organization)
Minnesota Atheists 

Best Article of the Year
BE Orlando

Best Photo of the Year
Corpus Christi Atheists

In addition to the BBN awards, we are proud to recognize two individuals for their service to the humanist community.

Humanist Innovator
Jennifer Gutierrez of Humanist Alliance Philippines, International (HAPI)
HAPI is a not for profit community of progressive secular humanists from all over the world, united together with common goals for the greater good of humanity, working on an international basis but with primary focus on the Philippines as the beneficiary of its services. They are also a member of the BBN. Jennifer has been the HAPI Executive Director since June 2015, however she has been a HAPI Core Officer since June 2014 holding the title Director of Environment and Climate Advocacy as her specialization. In a very short time, Jennifer has contributed a lot of her time and attention to making HAPI better and stronger. Lyle Villahermosa accepted the award at Reason Rally on behalf of Jennifer C. Gutierrez, his friend and colleague in Humanist Alliance Philippines, International (HAPI) since she was unable to attend the ceremony. 

Humanist Visionary
Dale McGowan
Dale is an author, speaker, musician, and, not least of all, the founding executive director of Foundation Beyond Belief. Under his leadership, FBB raised over $2 million for charities around the world, launched a network of more than 100 humanist volunteer teams in the U.S., and created groundbreaking disaster recovery and international service programs. Dale has spoken on a range of subjects in more than 40 cities and in 2008 was honored as Humanist of the Year by the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard University in recognition for his work in nonreligious parenting education. He is currently the managing editor of the Patheos Atheist Channel.

Austin Humanists at Work, BE. Orlando, Corpus Christi Atheists, Dale McGowan, Humanist Alliance Philippines, International (HAPI), Jennifer Gutierrez, Lehigh Valley Humanists, Minnesota Atheists, Springfield Skeptics