The National Endowment for Democracy is proud to honor two of these voices – Liu Xiaobo and Xu Zhiyong – both locked in Chinese prisons because the regime views the power of their ideas as an existential challenge.

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The Endowment honored three outstanding young people who are working in extraordinarily challenging environments to create a democratic future in their respective countries. NED also made a posthumous award to a fourth young democrat whose life was cut short in the midst of his struggle.

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Famed Burmese democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY) were among those present to pay tribute to Burma’s democracy movement, which was honored with theNational Endowment for Democracy’s 2012 Democracy Award at a Capitol Hill ceremony on Sept. 20.

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The 2011 Democracy Awards were accepted by Tunisian activist Jamel Bettaieb and Zahraa Said, sister of murdered businessman Khaled Said, on behalf of all Tunisians and Egyptians who have struggled for a democratic future. William Burns, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, spoke at the ceremony, which as preceded by an experts panel on the continuing struggle for democracy in the Middle East.

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