BPF End-of-Year Awards Ceremony, June 9th… United Nations Association of New York Executive Director, Ann Nicol Ms. Nicol founded the Worldview Institute for UNA-NYC.  With her finger on the pulse of foreign affairs, she also spearheads an extensive speaker series, for UNA-NYC members, featuring ambassadors, and leaders in many facets of global politics. CEO of Greenwich Media Strategies, Hagar Hajjar Chemali Before founding Greenwich Media Strategies, Ms. Hajjar was formerly the head of Syria and Lebanon for the National Security Council at the White House and then Speaker for the Treasury on issues of counter-terrorism.  She is often featured on CNN, MSNBC, and several other news channels, as a guest commentator. Awards Ceremony ProgramAwards Presentation by Mayor Joshua Cohn, Rye, NY  The Mayor’s Award is presented to students whose projects have benefitted the local home-base Big Picture Foundation community. Sean Yu –  for spearheading the Bach to Bach event for Big Picture Foundation Greta Lleshaj – for co-choreographing a sign language performance for our home-base group, that was performed as part of a global collaborative project. Kristen DeLorenzo – for co-choreographing a sign language performance for our home-base group, that was performed as part of a global collaborative project. Christian Ellis – for his work co-editing all the international submissions into one final music video, for our 2019 global music collaboration Joseph Montalto– for his work co-editing all the international submissions into one final music video, for our 2019 global music collaboration Gaby Gomez – for writing about Big Picture Foundation for a local news journal and for creating support material for the program Brendan Quinn – for organizing a tribute committee to honor the BPF graduating senior leaders Natalia Roman – for creating a compilation video that was shown at the awards ceremony.  The video showed important BPF moments from our past 3 years. Sally Eggers – for spearheading our climate change project that, if approved by the town parks and recreation board, will happen on the beach. Ellie Kirk – for assisting Sally with beach day preparations and for volunteering to oversee press release development, during the 2019-2020 program year. Address by Kim Tamalonis, Big Picture Foundation Executive Director Awards Presentation by United Nations Association of New York Executive Director, Ann Nicol The Art Ambassador’s Award is presented to students who hold top leadership positions in the organization. Aidan Anderson – Student Director of Local Kids’ Programming Delucia Lepore – Founder of the FriendLink Program. Alexandra Kirk – Student Public Relations Director Amber Hufford – Student General Manager Awards Presentation by CEO of Greenwich Media Strategies, Hagar Hajjar Chemali Before founding Greenwich Media Strategies, Ms. Hajjar was formerly the head of Syria and Lebanon for the National Security Council at the White House and then Speaker for the Treasury on issues of counter-terrorism.  She is often featured on CNN, MSNBC, and several other news channels, as a guest commentator. The Media Award is presented to students who use media resources to spread the word about BPF kids using the arts for local, national, and global community building initiatives. Natalia Roman – student producer and news anchor for RyeTV syndicate, BPF TV Sophie Molitor – student producer and news anchor for RyeTV syndicate, BPF TV Christian Ellis – student producer and news anchor for RyeTV syndicate, BPF TV Grant Hounsell – student producer and news anchor for RyeTV syndicate, BPF TV Kevin Keane – student producer and news anchor for RyeTV syndicate, BPF TV Nicolas McGuire – student producer and news anchor for RyeTV syndicate, BPF TV Awards Presentation by Vice President for Global Clients for Linked In, Ariel Eckstein The Big Picture Foundation Diplomat’s Award is presented to students who bridge gaps between cultures, establish new Big Picture Foundation connections, and act as liaisons in helping kids from different places to learn from each other. Sally Lee, Seoul, Korea – for spearheading BPF Korea, a new student-run chapter of our organization Anmar Khalaf, Erbil, Iraq – for pitching a new theme that will unite global kids during the 2019-2020 program year Imani Ogana, Nairobi, Kenya – for pitching a new theme that will unite global kids during the 2019-2020 program year Camilla Leon – for creating BPF connections with schools in Peru Ellen Chen – for creating and maintaining connections with students in China Kosei Shimotsu – for creating BPF connections with a student in Japan Patrick McGuire – for creating a connection with a student group in Venezuela Awards Presentation by BPF Board President, Leslie Cooper The Big Picture Foundation Leadership Award is presented to students who provide consistent program support, by consistently attending meetings and events, by reliably submitting work to the three online global galleries, and/or by offering time and effort to BPF administrative responsibilities. Charlie Levine, Lily Shaaban, William Webber, Tomas Sellar, Sierra Desai, Lily Saffer, Vladislava Kuldiaeva, Annie Davis, Olivia Walker, Jack Morrissey, Kimaya Agarwal, Juliet Rotondo, Trey Gallos, Marra Storey, Felicia Ambrogi, Emilia Vukasinovic, Maya Matthisson Awards Presentation by BPF Board Member, Evan Wies The Community Makers’ Award is presented to all kids who use the arts for local, national, and global Big Pictures Foundation community-building endeavors. All trustees stand in receiving line to shake hands and distribute certificates to all kids who have participated over the course of the year.