Award ceremony – Friday 8 December

The jury of the John Blankenstein Prize has just announced the three nominations for 2017. The John Blankenstein Prize is the annual gay emancipation prize, nowadays LGBTI emancipation prize, of the city of The Hague for an organisation, person or group of people who have contributed to LGBTI emancipation in The Hague. For the first time, the five Regenboog municipalities in the Haaglanden region – Delft, The Hague, Leidschendam-Voorburg, Westland and Zoetermeer – jointly award the John Blankenstein Prize. It remains a prize from The Hague, but with this collaboration the Municipality of The Hague is reaching a wider audience and a broader (supported) approach. This expansion also offers a stage to LGBTI initiatives outside The Hague.

The jury has nominated three candidates for the prize, who are distinguished by their decisiveness, courage and creativity in their actions aimed at making sexual and gender diversity visible and open for discussion. The jury mainly looked at the target groups reached, the exemplary function of the initiative and the regional reach.

The nominations for the John Blankenstein Prize 2017 are:

• Evelyn van de Putte
• Luke Wessels
• Scouting De Lier

The award ceremony of the John Blankenstein Prize 2017 will take place in the COC Café The Hague on (Purple) Friday 8 December from 10.30-11.30 am. Alderman Karsten Klein presents the physical prize specially designed for this purpose by the Hague artist Mickey Yang and the check worth €2500.

Composition jury
The jury is composed in such a way that all five Rainbow municipalities from the Haaglanden region are represented:
From the Municipality of Delft: Bram van Meurs, former chairman of the DWH Delft Working Group on Homosexuality.
From the municipality of The Hague: Soerin Narain, director of St. Vobis – formerly St. Hindustani, winner of the John Blankenstein Prize 2015.
From the municipality of Leidschendam-Voorburg: Frank Rozenberg, former alderman for LGBT policy.
From the municipality of Westland: Muriel Weltens, health promotion officer GGD Haaglanden.
From the municipality of Zoetermeer: ​​Monique Boonekamp, ​​health promotion officer GGD Haaglanden.

The price is named after umpire John Blankenstein. The former referee openly admitted his homosexual orientation and has meant a lot to LGBTI people within sport and society. With this prize, the municipality wants to contribute to the social and societal acceptance of LGBTI people in The Hague and the region. At the request of the municipality, COC Haaglanden has been organizing this prize since 2007.

The abbreviation LGBTI stands for: lesbian women, gay men, bisexual people, trans people and people with an intersex condition.