FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 15, 2025

Contact: Court Beyer, cbeyer@americanhumanist.org

“I am deeply honored by this recognition. I appreciate the opportunity to engage with the humanist community” – Jelani Cobb

WASHINGTON – The American Humanist Association (AHA) is proud to announce the 2025 recipient of the AHA’s Humanist of the Year award: journalist, professor, and public intellectual Jelani Cobb. He is the Dean of the Columbia Journalism School, a staff writer at The New Yorker, author of two books and editor of several more, and has produced a number of documentaries. Dr. Cobb will be honored at Humanists Move America, the AHA’s 84th annual conference being held from June 27 to 29 in Chicago, IL, where the first American humanist manifesto was signed in 1933. Cobb’s award will be presented on Friday, June 27.

“From his scholarship at Columbia to his commentary in The New Yorker, Jelani Cobb models core humanist values in everything he does, and we are so proud and honored to be able to recognize his important work next month in Chicago,” said Fish Stark, Executive Director of the American Humanist Association. “Dr. Cobb is a secular educator in the best sense – someone who teaches his students not what to think, but how to think, both clearly and ethically. Dr. Cobb has never flinched when confronting the hard truths of our time, tackling topics like white supremacy, authoritarianism, and historical amnesia with integrity and rigor. And perhaps most notably, he has been a fierce advocate of our democratic ideals and has embodied a humanist patriotism – one that says we owe each other better. For his secular commitment to shared humanity and collective liberation, we are thrilled to honor Dr. Cobb.”

The annual Humanist Awards, which started in 1953, recognize accomplished individuals who advance humanism in science, arts, politics, and modern culture. The AHA’s annual conference empowers humanists to live purpose-driven lives rooted in reason, compassion, and progress. In addition to the awards ceremonies, the conference will bring together leaders, activists, and community members to discuss the pressing issues of our time and explore big, new ideas for the future of humanism.

Past awardees of AHA’s Humanist of the Year include Amy Goodman, Anthony Fauci, Salman Rushdie, Dan Savage, Gloria Steinem, Bill Nye, Joyce Carol Oates, Kurt Vonnegut, A. Philip Randolph, and many more.

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The American Humanist Association (AHA) works to protect the rights of humanists, atheists, and other nontheistic Americans. The AHA advances the ethical and life-affirming worldview of humanism, which—without beliefs in gods or other supernatural forces—encourages individuals to live informed and meaningful lives that aspire to the greater good of humanity.