The Niwano Peace Prize is given to honor and encourage those devoting themselves to interreligious co-operation in the cause of peace and to make their achievements known. Its foundation hopes that the prize will further promote interreligious co-operation for peace and lead to the emergence of more people devoting themselves to this cause. The award is given annually and consists of a certificate, a gold medal, and 20 million yen (roughly US$180,000). The screening committee, which decides the recipients, is made up of religious leaders of international stature. They select the recipient from candidates who are nominated by religious leaders and others of intellectual stature around the world. The Tokyo-based Niwano Peace Foundation was initiated by the Japanese citizen Nikkyō Niwano, founder of the Buddhist lay organization Risshō Kōsei Kai; he was one of the few non-Christian observers of the Second Vatican Council. His son, Nichiko Niwano, is his successor as chairman of the movement, which is dedicated to interreligious dialogue. Laureates 1983: Dom Hélder Câmara, Brazil 1984: Homer A. Jack, USA 1985: Zhao Puchu, China 1986: Philip A. Potter, Dominica 1987: World Muslim Congress, Pakistan 1988: not awarded 1989: Etai Yamada, Japan 1990: Norman Cousins, USA 1991: Dr. Hildegard Goss-Mayr, Austria 1992: A. T. Ariyaratne, Sri Lanka 1993: Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam, Israel 1994: Cardinal Paulo Evaristo Arns, Archbishop of Sao Paulo, Brazil 1995: M. Aram, India 1996: Marii Hasegawa, USA 1997: Corrymeela Community, Northern Ireland 1998: Maha Ghosananda, Cambodia 1999: Community of Sant'Egidio, Italy 2000: Dr. Kang Won Yong, Korea 2001: Elias Chacour, bishop of the Melkite-Catholic Church in Israel 2002: Samuel Ruiz García, Bishop Emeritus of San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico 2003: Dr. Scilla Elworthy, UK 2004: Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative (ARLPI), Uganda 2005: Dr. Hans Küng, Switzerland 2006: Rabbis for Human Rights, Israël 2007: Master Cheng Yen, founder of Tzu-Chi, the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu-Chi Foundation, Taiwan 2008: Prince El Hassan bin Talal, Jordan 2009: Reverend Canon Gideon Byamugisha, Uganda 2010: Ela Bhatt, India 2011: Sulak Sivaraksa, Thailand 2012: Rosalina Tuyuc, Guatemala 2013: Gunnar Stålsett, Norway 2014: Dena Merriam, USA 2015: Pastor Esther Ibanga, Nigeria 2016: Center for Peace Building and Reconciliation (CPBR), Sri Lanka 2017: Munib Younan, Palestine 2018: Adyan Foundation, Lebanon 2019: John Paul Lederach, USA 2020: Ven. Pomnyun Sunim, South Korea 2021: Venerable , Taiwan References External links Niwano Peace Prize Peace awards Japanese awards