NEW YORK, NY – Eboo Patel received a Newsweek-Stubblefield Institute Civility Award in the category of Community Leader on Tuesday, December 10.
“Eboo Patel is a national leader in overcoming divides to better our communities, states, and nation. He has worked to help schools, workplaces, and communities learn to use diversity of faith as a strength rather than a source of division,” said Ashley Horst, Stubblefield Institute executive director. “We are pleased to honor Mr. Patel with a Newsweek-Stubblefield Institute Civility Award and hope that his example inspires others to seek opportunities for collaboration across differences.”
The Bonnie and Bill Stubblefield Institute for Civil Political Communications was founded at Shepherd University in 2019. Because it is housed on a university campus, the Stubblefield Institute is uniquely positioned to support current and future leaders, as well as community members and faculty researchers in areas of political communication and civility.
To encourage productive political conversations across the nation, the Stubblefield Insitute first presented Civility Awards in September 2022. This year the Institute has partnered with Newsweek, to present the Newsweek-Stubblefield Institute Civility Awards.
Nominations were accepted from Newsweek readers and the public from February 6 to March 31 of this year. Nominations were judged based on demonstrated leadership in promoting civil discourse, bipartisan collaboration, and honest debate.
“Vigorous debate is a bedrock of democracy,” said Nancy Cooper, Newsweek global editor in chief when nominations opened. “In this era of fierce polarization, we at Newsweek believe the public is best served by a civil national discourse that reflects diverse perspectives. With that mission in mind, Newsweek is partnering with the Stubblefield Institute to celebrate the people and organizations who work to foster good-faith debate and bridge political and cultural divides.”
The bipartisan panel of judges included Stubblefield Institute board of advisors’ co-chairpersons Kelly Johnston and Scott Widmeyer, Newsweek senior leaders Nancy Cooper and Jennifer Cunningham, and representatives of the Washington, D.C.-based Bipartisan Policy Center Margaret Spellings and Val Demings.
Awards were announced at Newsweek headquarters in Manhattan on December 10, 2024. Awardees included Patel along with Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA), Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), Governor Spencer Cox (UT), Rep. Young Kim (R-CA), and the Kettering Foundation. Lifetime Achievement Civility Awards were presented to Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and to C-SPAN. C-SPAN CEO Sam Feist accepted the award on behalf of the network.
“The Stubblefield Institute is excited to celebrate champions of civility from across the nation,” said Horst, “These Civility Award Recipients model for all of us that we can support our ideals with consistent daily action to promote consideration of differing perspectives and bipartisan collaboration while we respond to both long-standing and emerging difficulties and grow together as a nation.”
