For nearly five decades, the Charles F. Kettering Foundation has focused its work, in the United States and worldwide, on democracy. But after seeing democracy appear to be ascendant around the globe through the turn of the last century, we are now experiencing the terrifying swing of the pendulum toward democratic backsliding and ascendent autocracies instead. Recognizing this, the Kettering Foundation has refocused its mission and redoubled its efforts to advance and defend inclusive democracy.

In service of this mission, the Charles F. Kettering Foundation created a new award—the Kettering Democracy Prize. The prize, which comes with $100,000 and the Kettering Democracy Prize medal, honors those whose extraordinary courage and commitment in the fight for democracy are a guiding light and inspiration for people around the world. The inaugural winners of the prize—Alexei Navalny, the late Russian opposition leader, and Judith Browne Dianis, an American lawyer and civil rights advocate—were celebrated at a dinner and ceremony at the Rubell Museum in Washington, DC, on November 18, 2025.

In her remarks introducing the Kettering Democracy Prize and its winners, Kettering Foundation president and CEO Sharon L. Davies reflected on those in earlier generations who had fought for a more inclusive democracy in ways that are tangible to her today. As the child of a White Irish Catholic mother from New York and a Black man who grew up under Jim Crow in South Carolina, Davies acknowledged the abolitionists, suffragists, and civil rights activists who fought to make her parents’ interracial marriage legal and to give them the right to vote—a right that of her own grandparents did not always have. Davies concluded, “Every one of us, all of us, stand where we stand in our country today because of the courageous work of others from our past, and we carry a debt that we will never be able to repay them. But here’s what we can do. We can remember their examples. We can celebrate those from our own lifetime as we do tonight. Those who bravely walk in the footsteps of past heroes, and we can summon our own courage to pick up where they left off.”

Kettering Democracy Prize laureate Alexei Navalny, honored posthumously, was an international symbol of courage who ceaselessly championed democracy and challenged Russian President Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian rule. His death in February 2024 is believed to have been ordered by the Kremlin. Speaking of the significance of Navalny’s life and legacy, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, professor of history and Italian studies at New York University and author of Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present, marveled that Alexei Navalny was a lawyer, organizer, opposition politician, and anti-corruption activist, whose activities encompassed almost every form of nonviolent resistance. “Effective resisters build communities and movements,” Ben-Ghiat said, “and Navalny reached people who felt despair or fear or were maybe just detached from politics because they felt resistance was futile.” She continued, “Navalny helped people to see a future for themselves in Russia and ways of taking action that they had not imagined.”

Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, was present to accept the prize on her husband’s behalf. Navalnaya, a human rights activist who has taken up her husband’s mantle as opposition leader and now faces arrest herself if she returns to Russia, announced that the full amount of the Kettering Democracy Prize will be used to start a new foundation. The Navalny Foundation will be dedicated to preserving Alexei Navalny’s memory and continuing his mission. “One of the most important missions for Alexei was involving the citizens of our country in politics and raising the level of political participation. You may not believe it,” she said, “but that is almost the literal name of one of the articles of the Russian criminal code under which he was prosecuted and given yet another sentence—the involvement of youth in political activity.” Navalnay continued, “What Putin considers a crime was the work of Alexei’s life. Therefore, the Navalny Foundation will support various initiatives aimed at increasing civic participation in politics.”

Following her acceptance remarks, Navalnaya joined Ben-Ghiat for a conversation on the topic, “How to Resist a Strongman.” Ben-Ghiat asked Navalnaya what she thought made her husband so effective as a leader in opposing Putin. Navalnaya explained that he was just a normal person and that people could see that. “People who saw him, they just felt that they could do it because he’s like them.” However, Navalny’s resilience and courage were extraordinary. “That’s why I think we are honoring him right now. It was something special,” Navalnaya said.

The Kettering Democracy Prize also went to laureate Judith Browne Dianis, who was executive director of the nonprofit Advancement Project from 1999 until her retirement in October. There, she worked to thwart voter suppression, prevented the closure of polling locations, and fought cuts to early voting. In her introductory remarks, Melissa Murray, Frederick I. and Grace Stokes Professor of Law at New York University and cohost of the podcast Strict Scrutiny, noted that, “Judith’s work recalls that of Alexei Navalny, who . . . inspired people to imagine a different future for themselves.” She continued, “I can’t think of a better way to describe the work that Judith has done in education, in policing, and in voting rights than to think about the ways in which she has helped those who have been marginalized and disenfranchised imagine and hope for a different future for themselves in this messy and imperfect democracy.”

In her acceptance, Browne Dianis reflected, “Democracy in the United States has never been perfect. In fact, many would say it is far from being a true democracy because it is a democracy for some, not all.” In spite of this, she said, “The people who’ve been excluded have believed. We have believed in We the People.” “Throughout my career,” Browne Dianis said, “I have worked with communities who had little power but who believed in our democracy. They have challenged White supremacy and those who wield power to subjugate them. They have won against all odds because they believed. They, and I, have a righteous, unwavering belief in this democracy.”

Following her acceptance remarks, Brown Dianis joined Murray for a brief conversation about expanding inclusion and trust in the fight for a multiracial democracy. Answering Murray’s question about what people can do in this time when it seems that we are moving backward instead of forward, Browne Dianis noted that, at the state and local level, there are opportunities to be involved and to hold elections officials accountable. “We need more people just being there—the watchers, the monitors, the people who are going out and going to those election board meetings. . . . We have to be the watchdogs for democracy right now.”

Nominations for the prize came from leaders from across the political spectrum and were evaluated by an independent panel of experts. The winners were selected from the top finalists by the Charles F. Kettering Foundation’s board of directors.

“Winners of the Kettering Democracy Prize are those who value democracy over the consequences that may flow from their decisions to promote and defend it,” said Sharon L. Davies. “The Charles F. Kettering Foundation is honored to pay tribute to their inspiring examples.”