The International Peace Festival | Festival International de la Paix Awards Committee is honoured to announce Oprah Winfrey, global media leader, philanthropist, producer and actress, as the recipient of the 2024 IPF | FIP Celebrity Peace Ambassador Award to be formally presented to Ms. Winfrey at the IPF | FIP Awards Ceremony that will be held in Toronto, Canada, on September 28, 2024.

The IPF | FIP Celebrity Peace Ambassador Award is given annually to a celebrity who uses their fame and influence to make a real difference in the world. The purpose of the award is to honour a man or woman of peace from the world of culture and entertainment who has stood up for human rights and for the spread of the principles of Peace and Solidarity in the world, and who has made an outstanding contribution to international social justice and peace.

Ms. Winfrey has been ranked the greatest Black philanthropist in American history and the richest African American of the 20th century and North America's first Black multi-billionaire. By 2007, she was ranked as the most influential woman in the world and has said that she values her financial success because it enables her to "make an important difference in people's lives".She has donated millions of dollars to assist the underserved in basic human needs and has extended her arm and influence far and wide throughout the world.

In 1987, Ms. Winfrey established a private charity, the Oprah Winfrey Foundation. A crusader for women and children, the foundation has awarded thousands of grants to non-profits that support the inspiration, empowerment, and education of women, children, and families around the world. She has contributed millions of dollars across the globe toward education for underprivileged, merit-worthy children. She is one of the largest contributors to Free The Children, an organization dedicated to building schools for children in developing countries and has donated more than $400 million to higher education.

In 1997, Ms. Winfrey established Oprah’s Angel Network which has raised more than $80 million, established 60 schools in 13 countries, supported women’s shelters, created scholarships, and funded over 200 homes through Habitat for Humanity. She has also made significant contributions toward institutions that further education, including large gifts to several historically black colleges and universities. Recipients include the United Negro College Fund, the Harold Washington Library, Chicago Academy of Arts, Chicago Public Schools, and her alma mater, Tennessee State University. The first recipient of the Academy of Television Arts and Science's Bob Hope Humanitarian Award, she donates at least 10 percent of her annual income to charity.

For 25 years (1986-2011), Ms. Winfrey was host of the award-winning The Oprah Winfrey Show, the highest-rated TV show of its kind in history. As chairman and CEO, she has guided her successful cable network, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network; is the founder of O, The Oprah Magazine; and oversees Harpo Films. She is also an Academy Award-nominated actress for her role in The Color Purple, earned critical acclaim in Lee Daniels’ The Butler, and produced and acted in the Academy Award-winning film Selma. Ms. Winfrey recently appeared in the HBO Films The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

In 2013, Ms. Winfrey was awarded honorary doctorates by Duke and Harvard. She has received many other awards and honors throughout her career, including 18 Daytime Emmy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Chairman's Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, including the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award (2002), a Tony Award, a Peabody Award, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, awarded by the Academy Awards. She is the recipient of the NAACP Spingarn Medal, and the 1986 Woman of Achievement Award from the National Organization for Women.

Other awards received by Ms. Winfrey include two People's Choice Awards, The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' 1998 Lifetime Achievement Award, the International Radio-Television Society Foundation Gold Medal Award, the National Book Foundation's fiftieth-anniversary gold medal, the NAACP Image Award (four years running), and the NAACP's 1989 Entertainer of the Year. In 2013, Ms. Winfrey was awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Obama, the nation’s highest civilian honor. Time Magazine has named her as one of the "100 Most Influential People of the Twentieth Century."

The International Peace Festival | Festival International de la Paix is proud to salute Ms. Winfrey’s efforts in helping contribute to the fostering of peace and sustainable development. The millions donated by the Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation help to support programs that strengthen and scale peacebuilding and development efforts across the world. These programs are critical to expanding the scope and number of activities benefitting more than 408 million youth in areas affected by conflict and armed violence. Their needs are immense and yet largely unmet and unknown.

Ms. Winfrey’s philanthropic purpose is driven by the belief that young people from conflict-impacted places can be empowered as peacemakers and changemakers, and that young people can be trusted with the future of their communities, even in the most difficult situations. This is a message that we hope will be heard by decisionmakers across governments, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector. Ms. Oprah Winfrey, we thank you and salute you for your commitment, dedication, generosity, and above all, your vision, in working towards a better world for all. Congratulations!