Former US Secretary of State George P. Shultz, who celebrated his 100th birthday on December 13, 2020, awarded Youth Activist Kehkashan Basu of Toronto, Canada as the first recipient of the “Voices Youth Award" on January 6, 2021. This award for nuclear disarmament work is named in Shultz’s honor and also in honor of Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the USSR.
The creator of the award, Voices for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons, is a URI member group working to rid the world of the threat of nuclear weapons. Kehkashan Basu is also the leader of Green Hope Foundation, another URI member group. The winner of the second annual "Voices Youth Award" will be selected and announced by August 1, 2021.