Prudence Mabele Prize
Biennial endowment

The Prudence Mabele Prize is a new endowment named in honour of the life and work of Prudence Mabele, a trailblazing activist for the rights of women and people living with HIV. She was the first black woman to publicly reveal her HIV-positive status in South Africa in 1992, a founding member of the Treatment Action Campaign and founder of the Positive Women’s Network.

The International AIDS Society (IAS) created the prize through an endowment from the Ford Foundation and the Open Society Foundations, and in partnership with the Positive Women’s Network of South Africa. The prize will be the largest monetary value ever awarded at an International AIDS Conference.

The selected honoree will be a woman (cis and trans) whose work and personal commitment best embodies the values, spirit and activism of Prudence Mabele. They will be publicly honoured at a high-level session at the International AIDS Conference.

Consideration will be based on the following criteria:

• Nominations are invited for women (cis and trans) making deep connections between the fight against HIV, feminism and gender and reproductive justice.
• They can be from any regions of the world.
• All ages are welcomed, with nominations for young emerging leaders encouraged.
• Submissions are preferred in English, French or Spanish.
• Potential recipients should match the values that Prudence embodied:
• Innovativeness: demonstrate the creativity of the nominee in their work, in line with the innovation Prudence showed throughout her life.
• Perseverance: illustrate the tenacity of the nominee in achieving their accomplishments.
• Social justice: exemplify how the nominee enhances social justice in both their work and personal life, with an emphasis on gender activism and vulnerable people.