Renee Montagne
Journalist and co-host of NPR'’s Morning Edition
Renee Montagne is co-host of NPR's Morning Edition, the most widely heard radio news program in the U.S. She has hosted the newsmagazine since 2004, broadcasting from NPR West in Culver City, California, with co-host Steve Inskeep in NPR's Washington, D.C. headquarters. Ms. Montagne has made repeated trips to Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban, reporting on the challenges and triumphs of women and girls there. Whether interviewing military generals or State Department officials, she has kept a focus on women's rights and the critical role of economic and civil society development efforts in Afghanistan. Her reporting has contributed significantly to a broader understanding among Americans of the complex landscape that is Afghanistan.

Sunita Viswanath
Founder of Women for Afghan Women
Sunita Viswanath founded Women for Afghan Women in 2001 to work towards a greater voice for Afghan women in the struggle for their human rights. Under Viswanath's leadership, Women for Afghan Women has established a network of five centers in Afghanistan to shelter women whose lives are threatened by family violence and to provide education and job training programs. The organization has been instrumental in caring for Bibi Aisha, the young Afghan woman featured on the cover of Time magazine whose Taliban husband and in-laws cut off her nose and ears as punishment for running away from their abuse. Visnawath is also Development Director of MADRE and for many years was the Director of Grants and Programs at The Sister Fund.

Aung San Suu Kyi
Nobel Peace Prize laureate of Burma
Aung San Suu Kyi (pronounced "Ong San Soo Chee") was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 in recognition of her work in the nonviolent struggle for democracy and human rights in Burma. She was held under house arrest for 15 years by the Burmese military junta after her political party won the 1990 general election in a landslide victory. The military junta refused to recognize the election results. Suu Kyi was released in November 2010 and will join us via video from her country. A tireless advocate for human rights, freedom and democracy in Burma, we honor her perseverance and dedication to these ideals. Her endless strength and endurance through seemingly insurmountable adversity, inspires us all.

Yolette Jeanty
Haitian feminist leader
Many of Haiti's most prominent feminist leaders were killed in last year's devastating earthquake, including Magalie Marcelin, co-founder of the feminist organization Kay Fanm ("The House of Women"). The mission of Kay Fanm continues under its co-founder, Yolette Andree Jeanty, and it has done extraordinary work to staunch the epidemic of rape and violence against women in the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake. In addition to Ms. Jeanty's involvement with Kay Fanm beginning in 1984, she has also served as Executive Director of the Platform of Haitian Organizations for Human Rights (POHDH) and as the Executive Directorate of the National Coordination for Advocacy Women's Rights (CONAP), a platform of women's organizations in Haiti in which Kay Fanm was a founding member.