On a beautiful and starry November evening, the Italian Coalition for Civil Rights and Freedoms has hosted the first edition of its Civil Liberties Awards. The aim of the award is to recognize and encourage the efforts of those who fight for the promotion and protection of civil liberties, helping to spread the culture of human rights in Italy.

The inspiring individual and collective work of people who are engaged daily in defending the rights of others must be rewarded: in other words, civil liberties heroes deserve to be opportunely celebrated for their hard work and commitment, and this is especially true in hard times such as now.

For this reason, CILD decided to publicly acknowledge and award those silent and attentive witnesses who have demonstrated with their examples that "the liberty of others are your rights," paying special attention to the ordinary people and organizations whose extraordinary work is not yet known to the general public.

Open-sourced nominations

Nominations were open-sourced through e-mails and tweets and then evaluated by a jury composed of CILD's board of directors together with three external judges. The 16 winners were then announced and celebrated during an amazing event held at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni, presented by actor and writer Carlo Gabardini and accompanied by the beautiful music of pianist Stefania Passamonte, and attended by two very special international guest of honors - Anthony Romero (ACLU's executive director) and Balàzs Dénes (director of the European Liberties Platform for Open Society Foundations) - as well as national politicians and personalities.

Ladies & gentlemen, the winners are...

Young Activist Award - Valeria Verdolini: Valeria is a Milan-based expert of sociology of law and researcher on migrants' issues, also known for her participation in the movie "On the bride's side." Commitment to promotion and protection of human rights can be demonstrated in many ways and Valeria certainly demonstrated hers when, in September 2015, she loaded her car and drove straight to the Austro-Hungarian border in order to help out the refugees trying to cross.

Collective Voice Award - Primavera Romani: During the fall of 2015, a group of around 30 young persons coming from Roma and Sinti communities came together with the aim of trying to build a new Italy - where discrimination and intolerance are replaced by dialogue and integration - and wrote down their manifesto, which they later presented to the Italian Senate. The strong contents of this political document and movement provide a compelling motivation to award these young people dreaming of a better, more equal country.

Public Employee Award - Francesco Mondello: Francesco is a penitentiary police officer, who has long been working in the model prison of Milan Bollate and has played a key role in the creation and development of some innovative rehabilitation projects (and especially for Jailhouse Rock).

Lawyer Award - Legal Team for the Oliari Case (lawyers Schuster, Paoletti, Gallo, Sartori, D'Amico, Clara, Pitea): The historic European Court of Human Rights' judgment in the Oliari case, which condemns Italy for its failure to ensure equal rights to same-sex couples, was possible only thanks to the untiring work of this amazing legal team. The efforts of these seven dedicated and talented lawyers towards a more equal and just society are definitely worthy of some public praise.

Research Award - Professor E. A. Jannini: The real disease to be studied is homophobia. This is basically what professor Jannini - arguably the most competent authority on sexology in Italy - and his amazing research team (composed of doctors Ciocca, Limoncin, Maggi, Mollaioli, Niolu, Siracusano) demonstrated with their study connecting homophobic attitudes with psychoticism, immature defense mechanisms and a fearful attachment style.

Journalistic Award - Carola Frediani: Carola is a journalist and author, who in 2010 founded her own agency EFFECINQUE. She writes for, among others, Espresso, La Stampa, Wired and Corriere della Sera and is well known for her original research on hacktivism and her meticulous analysis of mass surveillance, for which she deserves to be awarded.

Teacher Award - Lucrezia Di Gregorio: There is a school in Rome where kids with and without hearing impairments attend classes, play and grow together - a true example of integration, for which teacher Lucrezia Di Gregorio, who coordinates the scholastic activities of the school, is awarded.

Business Award - Barikama': social cooperative Barikama' (which means 'resistant' in the Bambara' language) was born in 2011 thanks to a micro-income project and produces and distributes yogurt and organic vegetables. The persons in charge of the project are five young African men living in Rome - four of whom participated in the 2010 Rosarno uprisings against racism and work exploitation - who had the vision to develop a solid business reality with a strong social vocation. Symbolically, Barikama' represents the liberation from the exploitation and violence to which migrants have been subjected at the hands of foremen and of the 'ndrangheta, as well as the valorization of the idea of micro-income, therefore providing an extraordinary - and economically viable! - example of anti-racism and integration.

TV Award - Gazebo: The TV show Gazebo, presented by Diego Bianchi, has positively distinguished itself from other programs broadcasted on television for its ability to talk accurately, seriously and, at the same time, ironically about migrant and refugee issues.

Book Award - "Nawal, The Refugees' Angel" by Daniele Biella: Daniele's book it is not like any other. It narrates the beautiful and moving story of Nawal, a twenty-seven-year-old woman of Moroccan descent, who has been living in Catania since her childhood and is now known as "the refugees' angel" for her untiring work to aid and support the thousands of persons approaching the Sicilian coast. In other words, a truly inspiring tale.

Movie Award - "Me and Her" by Maria Sole Tognazzi: Finally, an Italian movie that talks, without stereotypes and simplifications, about same-sex couples - a theme that is otherwise pretty much ignored by our cinema - and thus inspires everyone watching to recognize that love is equal for all, no matter what are your sexual orientations.

Social Media Award - Patrizia Moretti: Through her blog, Patrizia found the strength and the voice to publicly denounce the violent death of her son, Federico Aldrovandi, at the hands of the police and was able to create a national movement asking for truth and justice. An extraordinary example of how to use social media for a very good cause.

Career Award - Giorgio Bignami: Giorgio has coupled research and activism for his entire life and is one of the founders of Forum Droghe, an organization devoted to advocacy and campaigning for a radical change in prohibitionist drugs policies. A life-long commitment to civil liberties such as his definitely deserves to be acknowledged.

Personality Award - Andrea Costa & all the Baobab center volunteers: Andrea Costa is the coordinator of the Baobab center. He and all his fellow volunteers work tirelessly to provide a temporary safe haven for migrants and refugees on the move. Through their strenuous work, they have changed for the better the lives of thousands of persons. A truly extraordinary example of how much can be done by grassroots movements taking the place of failing authorities.

A special Media Action Award was then conferred to three outstanding teams among those participating to The 19 Million Project.

Read more & see some more pictures here.