About Us
About the Prize
John Train (1928-2022), who was professionally involved with Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, proposed “Civil Courage” to name the virtue that Solzhenitsyn exemplified. In 1987, Train established the Civil Courage Prize to honor brave individuals who pursue justice for their societies. Recipients are chosen by the Train Foundation’s Board of Trustees.
Since our first award in 2000, we have honored some who are known around the world and some who remain anonymous. All have sacrificed for their ideals.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
— Edmund Burke
Trustees and Officers
George C. Biddle, Trustee and Chairman, World Connect
Ariadne Calvo-Platero, Trustee and President; Journalist; Editor
Musa T. Klebnikov, Trustee and Secretary
Louis N. Bickford, Trustee and Treasurer; Founder of Memria
Ann Brownell Sloane, Trustee; The Eisenhower Foundation
IN MEMORIAM
The Hon. John Train (1928-2022), Trustee and Chairman (1987-2022); Investment Counsel; Columnist
Staff and Administration
Makda Mehari, Executive Director
Advisors
Ambassador Glenn R.W. Babb
Prof. Philip C. Bobbitt
Tommy Bruce
Sir Jeremy Greenstock
Bill Keller
Zeid Ra'ad Zeid Al Hussein
Missie Rennie
Lydia Cacho Ribeiro
C. Bowdoin Train
Lisa Train
Nina Train
Suzy Wahba
Zachary Wydra
Ambassador Frank G. Wisner
Past Trustees and Advisors
The Hon. Richard J. Goldstone
former Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa
Virginia Armat Hurt
Journalist
The Hon. Jeane J. Kirkpatrick
former United States Representative to the United Nations
Count Aymar de Lastours
Member of the French Institute of International Relations
The Hon. John K. Menzies
former US Ambassador
Kumi Naidoo
Executive Director of Greenpeace
John Dimitri Panitza
Chairman of the Free and Democratic Bulgaria Foundation
The Hon. Claiborne Pell
former US Senator
The Hon. Nicholas Platt
former U.S. Ambassador
Baroness Patricia Rawlings
UK Parliamentarian
Enid C.B. Schoettle
Consultant in International Affairs
The Hon. Edward Streator
former U.S. Ambassador
John Temple Swing
former President, Foreign Policy Association
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Author
Sir Robert Wade-Gery
former British High Commissioner to India
Grace Kennan Warnecke
National Committee on American Foreign Policy
“The key to the spread of freedom and democracy is the active citizen, who operates in his or her own country, fertilising the seeds which grow in that particular soil.”
— The Rt Hon Lord Hurd of Westwell