Awardee Database

Awardees

Dr. Bart Pushaw

Most of the Inuit artworks that are the subject of Dr. Pushaw’s study are not in Greenland, taken and residing in collections in places as diverse as Oslo and Kansas. Dr. Bart Pushaw, of the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga researches, collates, historicizes, and analyzes these artworks in order to advocate for their return home.

Indulgent Images: Colonial Inuit Art and the Atlantic World is the first attempt in forty years to establish a critical corpus of Inuit art produced in Greenland between 1680 and 1900. As Dr. Pushaw’s first academic monograph, the project foregrounds close reading of historical art and expressive culture by Inuit makers to understand how Kalaallit Inuit envisioned futures for themselves and navigated colonialism in their own terms.

Funds from the Lois Roth Foundation will support Dr. Pushaw to collaborate with the Nuuk Art Museum, Inuit scholars, and community stakeholders to co-create knowledge on historical art and material culture, as well as study, consult, and photograph otherwise inaccessible artworks that are critical to his academic monograph.

Alex Gil

Alex Gil (Yale) received an honorable mention for his translation of Aimé Césaire’s lost drama on the Haitian Revolution and Toussaint Louverture, written during WWII, under the watchful eye of Vichy censors in Martinique. Now available for the first time in English, . . . . . . And the Dogs Were Silent / . . . . . . Et les chiens se taisaient (Duke UP, 2024) is a bilingual edition of this meditation on Black revolution and liberatory violence, rife with Césaire’s entrancing poetry and theatrical verve.

Inass Esshrir

Moroccan doctoral student Inass Esshrir was awarded the first grant of the Roth pilot project- Inbound Support grant. Inass’s research focuses on Moroccan storytelling and the work of Paul Bowles, an influential American who lived in Morocco for many years, studying its music and storytelling traditions. Through archival research in the Bowles collection at the University of Delaware in Newark, she is exploring notes on his unpublished, as well as published translations and on his relationships with the storytellers with whom he worked. With this added textual and contextual information, Inass hopes to both expand our awareness of Moroccan storytelling and reshape the scholarly understanding of Bowles’s work.

Fiona Graham

An honorable mention was awarded to Fiona Graham for her translation of The Rocks Will Echo Our Sorrow: The Forced Displacement of the Northern Sámi (UMN Pr., 2024). In a remarkable blend of historical reportage, memoir, and lyrical reimagining, Sámi journalist Elin Anna Labba travels to the lost—and still abandoned—homeland to tell of the forced removal of her nomadic ancestors, and how it both lives on in the hearts of Sámi today and echoes indigenous histories around the world. The book won Sweden’s prestigious August Prize for Best Nonfiction in 2020.

Johnny O. Hishmeh

The 2025 Lois Roth Award for excellence in cultural diplomacy goes to Johnny O. Hishmeh, Public Diplomacy Officer for Public Engagement in the Venezuela Affairs Unit at the U. S. Embassy in Bogota.

Johnny exemplifies the legacy of Lois Roth through his patience, wisdom, and generosity in supporting his team in Caracas. Under challenging conditions from Bogota, Johnny has mentored his team and university partners in Venezuela , guiding them through project management, leadership, and financial oversight. His innovative educational diplomacy initiatives have resulted in 26 new U.S.-Venezuelan university partnerships. Notably, he and his team created a U.S.-style internship program with VenAmCham, offering industry tours and applied learning for 60 students from two top universities, an initiative that has laid the groundwork for future programs.

M.R. Ghanoonparvar

For 2025, the first prize goes to M.R. Ghanoonparvar (UT Austin) for his translation of Ghazaleh Alizadeh’s two-volume novel The House of the Edrisis (1991-2) (Syracuse UP).

The House of Edrisis plays on historical parallels of the Islamic Revolution in Iran within its setting of 1910s Soviet Turkmenistan. Following the drama and dissolution of the powerful Edrisis family, the novel’s dark comedic style lends itself to such complex themes of revolution, hierarchy and social change.

M.R. Ghanoonparvar is professor emeritus of Persian and comparative literature at the University of Texas, Austin. He has translated over 30 books between Persian and English, including The Patient Stone by Sadeq Chubak and Savushun by Simin Daneshvar. In addition to translation, he is a widely-published author on Persian culture, often co-authoring works alongside his wife, Diane Wilcox.

Nicole Finnemann

Honorable Mention for the 2025 Lois Roth Award goes to Nicole (Nikki) Finnemann, Public Affairs Officer at the Consulate General in Barcelona.

Nikki has consistently demonstrated superior creativity, profound cultural sensitivity, and remarkable human warmth in fostering meaningful international collaboration. She led the 2025 Academy for Women Entrepreneurs Continental Summit, connecting women entrepreneurs across Europe with AI-enhanced business tools, and launched JumpStartUp, linking Barcelona’s biotech community with counterparts in Boston to foster scientific and cultural exchange. Previously, she spearheaded the Department’s public diplomacy engagement at the Ninth Summit of the Americas, highlighting cultural voices, and pioneered the Department’s first modern diaspora cultural engagement strategy, positioning Latin American communities as vital cultural bridges in shaping summit priorities.

Abeeda Shahid Talukder and Aria Fani

The second 2025 Persian Translation Prize goes to The Shape of Extinction (Asemana Books), a collection of Bijan Jalali’s minimalist poems by poet Abeeda Shahid Talukder and Aria Fani (UWash), which masterfully conveys Jalali’s meditative style.

Poet and author of Ghazal Cosmopolitan provides a brilliant reflection of the collection and the translators’ work: “where Fani’s insights contextualize the unique place Jalali has in the ‘overlapping and plural modernisms’ of Persian poetry— one of the world’s richest poetic traditions— Adeeba Shahid Talukder’s fine touch as a co-translator pierces the exosphere of craft, reaching the sphere of the elusive beloved, a space she knows well as a poet who draws from the Urdu tradition. The translated poems in Shape of Extinction settle as dew, refracting the mighty, delicate tendrils between the past and the yet to come, in Jalali’s Persian, a rare gift”.

Britta Bjornlund

The 2025 Ilchman-Richardson award goes to Britta Bjornlund, Chief of the Youth Programs Division, Office of Citizen Exchanges at the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA).

With calm and compassion, Britta guided the creation and growth of two of the Department’s most impactful regional initiatives in the past decade: the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), with its Mandela Washington Fellows Program, and the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI). Together, these efforts have forged enduring bonds between Americans and over 10,000 young leaders from Africa and Southeast Asia. Amid unprecedented challenges, Britta led her team with resilience and clarity by overseeing the repatriation of 2,000 high school exchange participants during COVID, restarting those programs once the pandemic eased, and addressing the urgent needs of nearly 200 Ukrainian students displaced by Russia’s 2022 invasion.

Dr. Nicholas Cull

Dr. Nicholas Cull (USC) is a 2025 winner for Reputational Security: Refocusing Public Diplomacy for a Dangerous World (2024, Polity Press). A theoretical rethinking of the relationship between realpolitik and “soft power” for the 21st century, supported by a convincing array of historical and current examples. This book argues that, particularly in the context of today’s radically different media and communications environment, national reputation is fundamental to national wellbeing and security. Chapter Seven explores the specific roles played by cultural diplomacy in relation to national reputation, situating these in a sophisticated and useful context and providing examples of a range of successful cultural diplomacy efforts.

Linda Piccirilli

Honorable Mention for the 2025 Ilchman-Richardson award goes to Linda Piccirilli, International Visitor Exchange Specialist, New York Program Branch of the Office of International Visitors at the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA).

Over her nearly 30-year career with ECA’s Office of International Visitors New York Program Branch (NYPB), she has deftly managed thousands of IVLP projects and shaped the lives of tens of thousands of emerging global leaders. Her diligence, warmth, and creativity are exceeded only by her commitment to strengthening the United States and its most important partnerships. Among her many notable achievements, Linda helped create a large-scale public-private partnership and developed an annual conference to enhance the Edward R. Murrow journalism project. As her nominator notes, Linda is the “heart and soul” of the New York branch.

Dr. Pete Millwood

Dr. Pete Millwood (Univ. of Melbourne) received a 2025 prize for Improbable Diplomats: How Ping-Pong Players, Musicians, and Scientists Remade U.S.-China Relations (2023, Cambridge Univ. Press). This readable, well-documented academic contribution to work on Sino-American relations in the 1970s investigates how cultural diplomacy remade international affairs. Methodologically innovative, it fleshes out the role and status of NGOs, situated between governments and individuals, and makes use of new archival materials and original oral history interviews. The result is a well-rounded transnational history that examines linguistic and cultural points of view, as well as the agency of Chinese individuals and organizations of the time

Shahid Waseem

The 2025 award went to Shahid Waseem, Country Alumni Specialist at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad.

Shahid has transformed Mission Pakistan’s alumni outreach, strengthening Established Opinion Leaders and Emerging Voices networks of U.S. exchange alumni across the country.He founded and leads the Pakistan-U.S. Alumni Network (PUAN) that hosts national and international conferences, provides internships for 1,000 alumni, and funds innovative public diplomacy projects. Thanks to Shahid’s leadership, PUAN is one of the largest networks of its kind in the world. Through his vision and leadership, alumni engagement in Pakistan has flourished, showcasing the lasting impact of exchange programs.

Dr. Elisabeth Piller

Dr. Elisabeth Piller (Univ. Freiburg) received the 2025 honorable mention for Selling Weimar: German Public Diplomacy and the United States, 1918-1933 (2021, Franz Steiner Verlag). While much attention has been paid to Cold War US cultural diplomacy efforts toward Germany, very little has focused on Germany’s use of public diplomacy to shape US views in any period. This book notes that, for the Weimar Republic democracy, “the need for systematic public diplomacy was among the central lessons” of WWI, and the country accordingly redesigned and prioritized its cultural outreach, especially toward the U.S. This innovative history of Germany’s interwar “American project” goes beyond economic accounts to explain the puzzlingly rapid reversal in US relations with Germany post-WWI and reveals the roots of German self-representations to this day

Charlène Wantong

The 2025 Honorable Mention went to Charlène Wantong, Public Engagement Specialist, U.S. Embassy in Yaoundé.

In under six years as Emerging Voices Specialist, Charlene has established herself as a visionary leader in educational and cultural diplomacy, combining cross-cultural sensitivity, strategic insight, and a deep commitment to mentorship. She has transformed disparate alumni groups into self-sustaining networks, led Cameroon’s first National Alumni Symposiums, and empowered Mandela and YALI alumni to take leadership roles in youth engagement. Through innovative initiatives like the “ConnectUSA” campaign and creative programming—from poetry slams to culinary diplomacy—Charlene has strengthened U.S. influence while fostering local ownership. As her nominator notes, she embodies the Lois Roth/Gill Jacot-Guillarmod ethos, demonstrating creativity, empathy, and strategic impact in public diplomacy.

Elka Videnova

In winter 2024-25, Elka Videnova won the Grand Prix for her translation of Night Boat to Tangier (2019) by the award-winning Irish author Kevin Barry. In the Algeciras terminal, where the night ferries for Tangier depart and dock, Charlie and Maurice exchange banter, solidarity and regrets, as they desperately seek Charlie’s young daughter, Dilly.

Alev Alemdar

Alev Alemdar, Established Opinion Leader Specialist at the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul, has dedicated 27 years to advancing cultural and educational diplomacy with unmatched excellence, integrity, and vision. She has been the cornerstone of the Consulate’s relationships with governments, universities, NGOs, and cultural institutions, guiding nine ambassadors, eight consuls general, and 21 public diplomacy officers with wisdom, warmth, and humor. Her strategic leadership has produced landmark achievements, including a transformative interagency MoU between the U.S. and Türkiye, while her legendary mentorship and generosity have shaped generations of officers, leaving a lasting legacy of impact, resilience, and compassion.

Iglika Vassileva

The Special Award went to Iglika Vassileva for her translation of J.M. Coetzee’s The Master of Petersburg (1994). This award-winning and complex novel interweaves the life of the author and the history of Russia with the life of the protagonist Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Naimeh Hadidi

Naimeh Hadidi, Senior Public Engagement Specialist at U. S. Embassy in Riyadh, has spent four decades building bridges between Saudi society and the U.S. through visionary public diplomacy programs. She has nurtured extensive networks across the Kingdom, mentoring participants and matching them to impactful initiatives, including Saudi Arabia’s first English Language Specialist Program reaching 6,000 teachers, pioneering female law student exchanges, and launching the YES program with trusted local leaders. Following 9/11, she championed programming promoting religious tolerance, interfaith dialogue, and outreach to conservative and rural communities. As her nominator notes, Naimeh’s sustained efforts have laid the foundation for PAS Riyadh to expand and diversify bilateral engagement under Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, embodying Gill’s principle of “helping the United States while helping your own country.

Marion Salvanet

Marion Salvanet is a Public Engagement Specialist at Africa Regional Services at the U. S. Embassy in Paris. She provides vital public diplomacy support to 27 French- and Portuguese-speaking posts in Africa. Over her 20-year career, she has recruited U.S. speakers and performing artists, managed press and digital engagement, and trained and mentored generations of PD staff, FSOs, and LES alike. Marion’s exceptional program design skills, extensive networks, and innovative approaches such as her widely emulated virtual programming during the pandemic have strengthened missions across the region. As her nominator notes, her expertise, mentorship, and unwavering dedication exemplify the highest standards of public diplomacy and make her an indispensable asset for the team.

Mathias Tientcheu

Mathias Tientcheu, Public Engagement Specialist at Embassy Yaoundé, has for over two decades been a cornerstone of U.S. public diplomacy in Cameroon, exemplifying creativity, cultural fluency, mentorship, and lasting impact. As an Established Opinion Leaders Specialist, he has led IVLP, Fulbright, university partnerships, and cultural programs including AFCP, while transforming American Corners in Buea and Garoua to extend U.S. outreach into Cameroon’s English-speaking Southwest and Muslim-majority North. From serving as official interpreter at the 2005 New Embassy Compound inauguration to spearheading Cameroon’s Cultural Property Agreement with the U.S., Mathias combines exceptional diplomacy, vision, and innovation. As his nominator notes, his programming, mentorship, and unwavering dedication have left an indelible mark on colleagues, communities, and institutions.

Serafina Kennedy

A graduate of Rutgers University, artist Serafina is collaborating with the Glass Factory in Boda Glasbruk to master Graal, a traditional Swedish glassblowing technique. Her project, “The Natural World through Allemansrätten, Graal, and Drawing,” is inspired by Sweden’s landscapes and the “Freedom to Roam” law (Allemansrätten). She is creating an extraordinary series of ink drawings and Graal sculptures, which will be showcased at the Glass Factory in June 2025 and at Rutgers University in the fall of 2025. The award will support her in acquiring materials and supplies essential for creating her Graal work and installing these stunning exhibitions in both Sweden and the U.S.

Yassin Adnan & Alexander Elinson

For the 2025 Arabic Literature Tour, Moroccan author Yassin Adnan and US translator Alexander Elinson present the novel Hot Maroc, longlisted for the IPAF in 2017 and published in translation by Syracuse University Press in 2021. Darkly comedic, Hot Maroc is told through the eyes of the hapless Rahhal Laâouina, aka the Squirrel. Painfully shy, not that bright, and not all that popular, Rahhal somehow imagines himself a hero. With a useless degree in ancient Arabic poetry, he finds his calling in the online world, where he discovers email, YouTube, Facebook, and the news site Hot Maroc. The novel gives a vital portrait of the challenges faced by today’s Moroccans in a repressive society, where adherence to traditional cultural icons both anchors and stifles creative production.

Yassin Adnan —poet, fiction writer, editor and TV presenter— is the author of 6 poetry collections, 3 short-story collections, a novel and a book about travel. He serves as president of the Marrakech English Book Festival and is the founder of two literary magazines. The host of cultural TV programs, a radio show and a podcast, he has also edited various titles, including the anthology Marrakech Noir (2018), and participated in a range of international programs, including in the U.S.

Alexander Elinson teaches Arabic Language & Literature at Hunter College/CUNY and directs their Summer Arabic Program. His research interests include Arabic and Hebrew literature from the pre-Islamic to the modern period. His current book project, Looking Back: The Poetics of Loss and Nostalgia in Muslim Spain, examines the intersection between literary convention and poetic subjectivity; his current research and translation projects include looking at Moroccan prison writing.

*The Prix Coindreau Prize, The Jeanne Varnay Pleasants Prize for Language Teaching, and the CASVA-Henry & Judith Millon Award are currently inactive.