The Ridenhour Prizes - Fostering the spirit of courage and truth
2014
Edward Snowden
Former intelligence officer and whistleblower Edward J. Snowden, whose actions exposed the warrantless surveillance of millions of people living in the US by the National Security Agency, is the 2014 co-recipient, with Laura Poitras, of The Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling. Read more
Laura Poitras
Laura Poitras, a documentary filmmaker and journalist, is the 2014 co-recipient, with Edward J. Snowden, of The Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling. She decrypted emails from and was the first to communicate with Snowden, leading to the exposure of the National Security Agency's vast government surveillance operation. Read more
2013
Jose Antonio Vargas
Jose Antonio Vargas, a journalist, filmmaker, and the founder of the immigration awareness organization Define American, is the 2013 recipient of The Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling because, like Ron Ridenhour, Vargas had a choice: to remain silent and safe or reveal his truth and risk sanctions. For Vargas those risks included the loss of a promising career and even deportation. In taking the latter course, he practiced the type of moral courage that Ridenhour Prize winners exemplify. Read more
Eileen Foster
Whistleblower Eileen Foster, the recipient of the 2012 Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling, exposed systemic fraud at the nation’s largest mortgage provider, Countrywide Financial. Her actions go a long way in exposing the fact that fraud on the part of commission-hungry loan officers — not borrowers lying on their loan applications — fueled the increase in toxic mortgages, which in large part gave rise to the 2008 economic crash. Read more
Lt. Col. Daniel Davis
Lt. Col. Daniel Davis is the recipient of the 2012 Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling for bravely speaking out against senior military leadership and their deceptive portrayal of the war in Afghanistan. To date, he is the only active duty serviceperson to have detailed the gross discrepancies between the reality on the ground in Afghanistan and the message of progress that is communicated to the US Congress and the American people. Read more
Thomas Drake
Thomas Drake, 2011 recipient of The Ridenhour Truth-Telling Prize, was a senior official at the National Security Agency (NSA) who blew the whistle through the proper channels and exposed massive waste, fraud and abuse as well as illegal and unconstitutional behavior at the hands of NSA management post-9/11. While the Bush administration targeted him as part of a wasteful criminal "leak" investigation into those who revealed Bush's warrantless wiretapping program, suspended Drake's security clearance and led him to voluntarily resign from the NSA, the current administration has been even more aggressive. Drake was indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice under the Espionage Act in April 2010 in order to silence him and send an ominous message to future whistleblowers, that not only could you lose your job, you could lose your very freedom. He is due to begin trial on June 13, 2011. Read more
Matthew Hoh
Matthew Hoh, 2010 recipient of The Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling, was the State Department official who resigned in protest from his post in Afghanistan. At a time when Afghanistan was still looked at as the "good war," Hoh came forward, very publicly and at great risk, to question the war's fundamental rationale. Read more
2009
Thomas Tamm
Thomas Tamm, 2009 recipient of the Ridenhour Truth-Telling Prize, was a former Justice Department lawyer who exposed the existence of a secret warrantless wiretapping program to The New York Times. Tamm imperiled his own future liberty to preserve the liberties of all Americans. Read more
Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Diaz
Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Diaz, 2008 recipient of the Ridenhour Truth-Telling Prize, was a former JAG officer who, while stationed at Guantánamo Bay, was the first person to release the names of the prisoners at the detention camp. He was recognized for his profound loyalty to the United States and its enduring constitutional principles. Read more