Sylvia Pankhurst, Dr. Richard Pankhurst, Rita Pankhurst and Dr. Alula Pankhurst will be honored with the 2016 Bikila Awards at a ceremony in Toronto, Canada on September 24th, 2016. (Courtesy photographs)
Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
Published: Monday, September 5th, 2016
New York (TADIAS) –The 2016 Lifetime Achievement Bikila Award will be given to the Pankhurst Family for their timeless contribution to Ethiopian studies. The Canada-based Bikila Award organization announced that Sylvia Pankhurst, Dr. Richard Pankhurst, Rita Pankhurst and Dr. Alula Pankhurst will be honored with this year’s Bikila Award — named after Ethiopian marathon legend and Olympian Abebe Bikila — on September 24th at a dinner ceremony in Toronto.
The organization said it is bestowing the award on the British academic family for “their distinguished achievement and longstanding love of Ethiopia, and for their exceptional and enduring contributions as professionals and scholars to the study and preservation of Ethiopian history.”
The Pankhurst family’s involvement with Ethiopia dates back to World War II. According to Wikipedia, “Sylvia Pankhurst had been an active supporter of Ethiopian culture and independence since the Italian invasion in 1935, and Richard grew up knowing many Ethiopian refugees. Sylvia was a friend of Haile Selassie and published Ethiopia, a Cultural History in 1955. In 1956, she and Richard moved to Ethiopia. He began working at the University College of Addis Ababa, and in 1962 was the founding director of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies. He also edited the Journal of Ethiopian Studies and the Ethiopia Observer. Pankhurst led the campaign for the return of the Obelisk of Axum to Ethiopia. It was re-erected in Axum in 2008. In addition to his numerous books on Ethiopia, Pankhurst has written works on his mother, including Sylvia Pankhurst: Artist and Crusader and Sylvia Pankhurst: Counsel for Ethiopia.”
Photos from last year’s Bikila Award Ceremony and Dinner in Toronto, Canada. (Courtesy photographs)
Additional honorees at the 2016 Bikila Award event include acclaimed artist Alemtsehay Wedajo who will be recognized with the Professional Excellence Award “for her distinguished achievement as an actress, director, playwright, poet, leader, and mentor of the arts,” the Bikila Award organization said.
Honorary guest speakers at the 2016 program include Ethiopian American scientist Sossina M. Haile who is Professor of Materials Science & Chemical Engineering at Northwestern University, as well as Astrophysicist Dr. Brook Lakew, an Associate Director of Solar System Exploration Division at NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center. The keynote speaker is Author and Poet Lemn Sissay.
The 2016 Bikila Award ceremony & dinner will feature “cocktails, delicious food, and music by Fantahun & Ethio-Zema, as well as other entertainments and door prizes.”
Below is the complete list of the 2016 Award winners:
Lifetime Achievement Award Winners: Sylvia Pankhurst, Dr. Richard Pankhurst, Rita Pankhurst, Dr. Alula Pankhurst
Professional Excellence Award Winners: Dr. Fikre Germa, Dr. Girma Bitsuamlak, Alemtsehay Wedajo, Dr. Tegest Hailu, Dr. Gezahgn Wordofa
Academic Excellence & Scholarship Award Winners: Teddy Kassa, Nishan Zewge-Abubaker, Yohannes Melkie
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If You Go:
The 2016 Bikila Award Celebration and Gala Dinner
September 24th, 2016
At Daniels Spectrum
585 Dundas Street East
Toronto, Canada
www.bikilaaward.org
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