A woman who helped secure legal protections for rape victims is one of five people being honored with $250,000 cash awards from the Pittsburgh-based Heinz Family Foundation.
The annual Heinz Awards recognize achievement in the arts, public policy, the economy and other areas. The recipients of the 24th annual awards were announced Tuesday.
Among them are Amanda Nguyen, credited with leading the campaign to enact the 2016 Sexual Assault Survivors' Bill of Rights Act and spurring similar legislation in dozens of states and internationally.
Also honored was West Virginia native Brandon Dennison, who established a community-based nonprofit that creates jobs and opportunities for low-income families in Appalachia.
Other winners were nonprofit Outdoor Afro founder Rue Mapp, nurse and innovator Sarah Szanton, and filmmaker and visual artist Kevin Jerome Everson.
