New Mexico Voices for Children

Join us in honoring New Mexico youth for their commitment to making the world a better place.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008
5:30pm - 7:30pm

at the
KiMo Theater
in downtown Albuquerque
(5th St. and Central Ave. NW)

Tickets are $30 through TicketMaster (includes taxes and surcharges)

Join us as we honor New Mexico youth, ages 13-26, from all over the state, for their vision, initiative, and dedication to service. The award recognizes young people who are already making a difference and challenges them to even greater heights of services.

Enjoy refreshments, live entertainment, and keynote speaker Amy Costello.

Amy Costello is an Emmy-nominated television and radio reporter. For five years she was the Africa correspondent for The World, a co-production of the BBC World Service, Public Radio International, and WGBH Boston.

For her reporting from Africa, Amy was a finalist for the Livingston Award, the largest all-media, general reporting prize in U.S. journalism. Her PBS television story, Sudan: The Quick and the Terrible, was nominated for a 2006 Emmy Award for Outstanding Feature Story in a News Magazine.

Amy spent five years traveling extensively across Africa, producing in-depth, documentary-style radio stories, reporting extensively on child issues in Africa. Amy also visited Darfur to investigate allegations of genocide for the PBS television program FRONTLINE/World.

Amy was a producer at National Public Radio for three years before moving to South Africa in 2001. She recently relocated to New York, and is an adjunct professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, her alma mater. She continues to work as a freelance reporter, media consultant, and public speaker.

In addition to our guest speaker, and short talks by the four awardees, this year’s program will include performances by three fabulous youth groups. KRQE TV news anchor Deanna Sauceda and NMVC Executive Director Eric Griego will emcee a fast-moving and inspiring evening.

About the Award
Nominations for the annual award are evaluated on the basis of evidence of the nominee's vision, initiative, and dedication in service to others. In other words, the award goes to young people who are already making a difference. Our hope is to challenge them to greater heights of service through the award recognition and exposure to Amy Biehl's life and work.

All nominees receive recognition and a certificate at the awards ceremony. A selection committee of youth, adults, and community leaders designate one honoree and one winner from each of the two age groups (13-18 and 19-26). Those four youth also each receive a $1,000 scholarship and an awards sculpture.

About Amy Biehl
The Amy Biehl Youth Spirit Award was founded by NMVC in 1993 - the year that Amy Biehl, a graduate of Santa Fe High School, died while working to end apartheid in South Africa.

Amy had gone to South Africa at the age of 26 as a Fulbright Scholar to help that country's leaders develop a new constitution. While conducting voter registration for South Africa's first all-race election she lost her life in a riot. After going through the Truth and Reconciliation process, Amy's family forgave the men who had participated in her death. Two of those young men work at the Amy Biehl Foundation, which Amy's family created in Cape Town to further her work and honor her life.