Salem Award

Established in 1992, the Salem Award Foundation has endeavored "to keep alive the lessons of the Salem witch trials of 1692 and to make known to our region and the world the unheralded, heroic work of those who bring justice to fruition in contemporary society," according to their mission statement. The Salem Award was one of the many permanent programs established by the Salem Witch Trials Tercentenary Committee. The purpose of the award is to encourage an understanding of the lessons of the Salem Witch Trials in the context of contemporary life. The group has rebranded itself and as of 2021 it is known as Voices Against Injustice

The recipients of the Salem Award;

2023 Award: History educator and author Sam Mihara is the recipient of the 2023 Salem Award for Human Rights and Social Justice. As a survivor of Japanese American incarceration during World War II, Mihara has spent more than 20 years speaking to audiences about both his family’s experience and contemporary injustices around mass incarceration and the detention of undocumented immigrants.

2022 Award: Investigative journalist and author, Jerry Mitchell who , as a reporter for the Clarion Ledger, spent three decades investigating civil rights cases that had gone cold.

2021 Award: Cosecha Massachusetts was the recipient of the 2021 Salem Award for Human Rights and Social Justice. The group is being honored for their leadership in fighting for access to drivers licenses for immigrants, regardless of status, while also organizing as part of a national campaign fighting for permanent protections, respect and dignity for all 11+million undocumented immigrants in the United States.

2020 Award: Massachusetts Bail Fund won the award for 2020. The fund pays up to $500 bail so that low-income people can stay free while they work towards resolving their cases.It also works towards ending pre-trial detention

2019 Award: Ana Maria Archila will be named the winner. A native of Colombia, Archila is co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy, a nonprofit that advocates for immigrants rights and economic justice in New York City. Archila emigrated to the U.S. at 17 and later helped form Make the Road New York, an immigrant advocacy group.

2017/18 Award: Honors the Ground Truth Project, and founder Charles M. Sennott, dedicated to fostering a new generation of young journalists.

2016 Award: Anne Driscoll. To work toward overturning wrongful convictions for the incarcerated.

2015 Award: Jose Antonia Vargas. For his tireless advocacy for immigration rights.

2014 Award: Brian Concannon and Mario Joseph. For restoring democracy, justice and human rights to Haiti.

2013 Award: Rev. Thomas Doyle and Horace Seldon. Doyle for the Catholic Church and awareness of the sex abuse scandal. Seldon for racial awareness.

2012 Award: City Life: Vida Urbana, tenants' rights and affordable housing.

2011 Award: Dr. Jonathan Shay, advocating for veterans.

2010 Award: Greg Mortenson, school builder and best-selling author for his work in bringing education to the people of war-torn Afghanistan.

2009 Award :The Coalition of Immokalee Workers for championing migrant workers who suffer abuse on the job in the Florida orange fields.

2008 Award: Eric Reeves for his work to stop genocide in Sudan and Darfur.

2007 Award: Navy Lt. Commander Charles D. Swift and Georgetown law professor Neal K. Katyal for their fight for rights of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

In 2009 Mayor Kim Driscoll and the Salem City Council voted to add a 25 cent surcharge to admissions at the city-owned Witch House to support the work of the Salem Award Foundation. The first Salem Award went to Gregory Williams, who was honored for helping rescue a beating victim in the L.A. riots. The ceremony took place at the opening ceremony of the Witch Trial Memorial at Charter Street on the Witch trials 300th anniversary.

Now in its 26th year, the Salem Award Foundation has taken on a new name and re-branded itself as Voices Against Injustice.

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