Afsoon Courage Award®

Previous Winners:

2024 - 2024 US Olympic Women’s Wrestling Team:
Sarah Hildebrandt, Dominique Parrish, Helen Maroulis, Kayla Miracle, Amit Elor, Kennedy Blades
2023 - Michelle Fazzari
2022 - Tamyra Mensah-Stock
2021 – Jenna Burkert
2019 – Talum Smith
2018 – Kathleen Janis

Tell Us About Your Nominee for
the Afsoon Courage Award

TExt from courage award page used up to July 2024

ABOUT THE AWARD

History and Purpose

The Afsoon Roshanzamir Johnston Courage Award was created in 2016 by Wrestle Like A Girl to honor Afsoon Roshanzamir Johnston and to recognize and celebrate the quality of courage that she admires most- personal courage.

The award recognizes an athlete in the United States or abroad whose actions demonstrate the qualities of personal courage in the spirit of Afsoon Roshanzamir Johnston, as she left a life in Iran to join her family in the United States, where she become the first women in America’s history to win a medal at the World Championships for the United States.

Award nominations are accepted on an ongoing basis. Nominations received after August 15th of each year will be rolled over for consideration the following year.

Please review and consider the award criteria to determine whether the person you wish to nominate would be an appropriate recipient of the Afsoon Roshanzamir Johnston Courage Award.

The award is presented each year at the Wrestle Like A Girl Gala at the National Museum for Women in the Arts, and in coordination with Wrestle Like A Girl’s annual celebration of women’s wrestling.

The Afsoon Roshanzamir Johnston Courage Award is administered by Wrestle Like A Girl. A distinguished committee named by Wrestle Like A Girl reviews all nominations, and selects the recipient or recipients of the award.

CRITERIA AND ELIGIBILITY

Today, athletes are too often captives to public opinion, or unable to speak out because of sport culture or policies limiting their voice & position when it means taking unpopular courses of action or offending powerful groups. The Afsoon Roshanzamir Johnston Courage Award honors athletes who have to use immense personal courage to be able to participate or compete in sports, even when participation can be deadly. The award celebrates athletes who choose to stand up for what is right, and who do what is right, rather than what is easy. 

Award Criteria

• Ordinarily, the award will be made to living athletes, from the United States or abroad.

• Individuals at all levels of athletics are eligible for the award.

• Emphasis will be placed on contemporary acts of personal courage.

• On occasion, in rare and special circumstances, awards have been made to foreign athletes.

HOW TO SUBMIT A NOMINATION

Please consider the award criteria and determine whether the person you wish to nominate would be an appropriate recipient of the Afsoon Roshanzamir Johnston Courage Award.

Send the name of your nominee and a brief explanation of the actions or events in which the nominee displayed personal courage, as defined in the award criteria. You may include news clips and other background materials pertaining to the actions or events described; however, supporting materials are not required. While we will gladly receive such materials by mail, we regret that we will be unable to return them.

It is important to note that Afsoon Roshanzamir Johnston Courage Award recipients are not selected on the basis of write-in campaigns or the volume of nominations an individual receives. A single nomination will place the individual's name in consideration for the award. 

Award nominations are accepted on a continuing basis throughout the year. Nominations received after August 15th of each year will not be considered for that year's award; they will instead be rolled over for consideration in the following year.

Submit your nomination online.