Harm Reduction International presents a number of awards at outr international conference to acknowledge the contributions of outstanding groups or individuals in the field.

•  The International Rolleston Award
•  The National Rolleston Award
•  The Carol and Travis Jenkins Award
•  The Film Festival Award
•  Honoured Life Members Award

The International Rolleston Award

This award was first presented at the ‘3rd International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm’ in Melbourne in 1992. Each year, it is given to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to reducing harms from psychoactive substances at an international level.

The award is named after Sir Humphrey Rolleston, President of the Royal College of Physicians who chaired the UK Departmental Committee on Morphine and Heroin Addiction. In 1926 this committee concluded that the prescription of heroin or morphine could be regarded as legitimate medical treatment for those in whom withdrawal produces serious symptoms that cannot be treated satisfactorily under normal practice and, for those for who are able to lead a useful and fairly normal life so long as they take a certain non-progressive quantity, usually small, of the drug of addiction, but cease to be able to do so when the regular allowance is withdrawn. This decision epitomises a benign, pragmatic and humane approach to drug problems, and was a landmark event in the history of harm reduction.

Previous Winners

• 1992 Dave Purchase (on behalf of North American Syringe Exchange, USA)
• 1993 Ernie Drucker (USA)
• 1994 Alex Wodak (Australia)
• 1995 Anne Coppell (France)
• 1996 Aaron Peak (Nepal)
• 1997 Luigi Ciotti (Italy)
• 1998 Nick Crofts (Australia)
• 1999 Jean-Paul Grund (Netherlands)
• 2000 Pat O’Hare (Italy)
• 2001 Fabio Mesquita (Brazil)
• 2002 Ethan Nadelmann (USA)
• 2003 Ambros Uchtenhagen (Switzerland)
• 2004 Anya Sarang (Russia)
• 2005 Zunyou Wu (China)
• 2006 Robert Newman (USA)
• 2007 Vladimir Mendelevich (Russia)
• 2008 Andrew Ball (Australia)
• 2009 Ralf Jurgens (Canada) and Sam Friedman (USA)
• 2010 Gerry Stimson (UK)
• 2011 Jude Byrne (Australia) and Rich Needle (USA)
• 2013 Kasia Malinowska-Sempruch (Poland/USA)
• 2015 Edo Augustian Nasution (Indonesia)

The National Rolleston Award

This award was first presented at the ‘3rd International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm’ in Melbourne in 1992. Each year, it is given to an individual or organisation for their outstanding contributions to reducing harm from psychoactive substances at the national level in the country that is hosting the harm reduction conference.

Previous Winners

• 1992 Les Drew (Australia)
• 1993 Wijnand Mulder (Netherlands)
• 1994 Catherine Hankins (Canada)
• 1995 San Giuliano Unità di Strada (Italy)
• 1996 The Australian IV League (Australia)
• 1997 Alain Mucchielli (France)
• 1998 Tarcisio Andrade (Brazil)
• 1999 André Seidenberg (Switzerland)
• 2000 Mike Wavell (Jersey)
• 2001 Jimmy Dorabjee (India)
• 2002 Tatja Kostnapfel-Rihtar (Slovenia)
• 2003 Mae Chan Project (Thailand)
• 2004 Tony Trimingham (Australia)
• 2005 Des Flannagan (Northern Ireland)
• 2006 The Drug User Advisory Group (Canada)
• 2007 Marek Zygadlo (Poland)
• 2008 Àmbit Prevenció (Spain)
• 2009 Thai Drug Users’ Network (TDN) Founders (Thailand)
• 2010 Russell Newcombe (UK)
• 2011 Elie Aaraj (Lebanon)
• 2015 Malaysian AIDS Council

The Carol and Travis Jenkins Award

Since the 15th International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm in Belfast (2005), this award has been presented each year to a current or former drug user who has made an outstanding contribution to reducing drug related harm.

The award was initially named after Travis Jenkins, the extraordinary jazz musician and composer who died of cancer in 2004. Travis Jenkins overcame a heroin addiction in order to marry and raise two sons, travel around the world with his anthropologist wife and create his music. For 2009, the award has been renamed the Carol and Travis Jenkins Award in memory of Carol Jenkins, who worked for many years with the Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research as a medical anthropologist, and was one of the leading instigators to setting up the National Aids Council. Carol Jenkins was renowned for her research into sexual behaviour and was a leading expert on HIV and AIDS. Equally important was her connection with the Hagahai people of Papua New Guinea, who were her second family.

Previous Winners

• 2005 Paisan Suwannawong (Thailand)
• 2006 Jason Farrell (USA)
• 2007 Alexandra (Sasha) Volgina (Russia)
• 2008 Theo van Dam (Netherlands)
• 2009 Holly Bradford (USA)
• 2010 Joergen Kjaer (Denmark)
• 2011 Tam Miller (Scotland)
• 2013 Loon Gangte (India)
• 2015 Abdur Raheem Rajaey (Afghanistan)

The Film Festival Award

This award is jointly presented by Harm Reduction International and the Burnet Institute (Australia) to the best film or documentary at the International Drugs and Harm Reduction Film Festival – which has run in parallel to the international harm reduction conference since 2004.

Previous Winners

• 2004 “Hi Dad” – Theresa Wynnyk & Sherry McKibben (Canada)
• 2005 “Mohammad and the Matchmaker” – Maziar Bahari (Iran)
• 2006 “Worth Saving” – Gretchen Hildebran & Leah Wolchok (USA)
• 2007 “FrontAids” – Eugene Zaharov and Sergey Bogatyrev (Russia)
• 2008 “Harm reduction video, Cambodia – Injecting Drug Use”- David Eberhardt (USA)
• 2009 “A Cleaner Fix”- David Gough
• 2010 “Ben: Diary of a Heroin Addict” Anne Rogers, Darren Teale & Ollie Lambert (UK)
• 2011 “I’m Dangerous with Love” Michel Negroponte (USA)
• 2015  “The hidden and forgotten plague – A film about hepatitis C in Sweden” Swedish Drug Users Union

Honoured Life Members AwardHarm Reduction International Board has created the Honoured Life Member award for people who have given ‘outstanding and distinguished service to Harm Reduction International’. It recognises service to the organisation.

The first awards were presented at a special function during Harm Reduction 2010: Harm Reduction International’s 21st International Conference in Liverpool.

The awards were made to:

• Ernie Drucker
• Fabio Mesquita
• Ernst Buning
• Bill Nelles