IATP Food and Community Fellow Curt Ellis and Ian Cheney, of King Corn, Truck Farm and Food Corps fame, are winners of the 17th annual Heinz Award. At 31, they are the youngest individuals to win a Heinz Award. The awards — named after the late senator and H.J. Heinz Company heir John Heinz — honor individuals "whose remarkable mix of vision, creativity and passion has produced significant achievements benefitting the environment."
"At a time when so much of our public discourse is about constraints and the limits of possibility, these men and women offer an inspiring reminder that change always comes from those who see past today's boundaries to a world of new possibilities and new discoveries," said Teresa Heinz, chairman of the Heinz Family Foundation, in a prepared statement.
Curt and Ian have certainly done just that. The duo is honored on the Heinz Awards website for having "sprinkled humor and possibility into an otherwise somber sustainable food movement with their documentary films and innovative advocacy that reaches millions of Americans[...] Mr. Cheney and Mr. Ellis are catalysts for change who have an uncanny ability to make complex topics – such as farm subsidies for industrial agriculture – interesting and compelling for a broad audience."
