Miami foundation gives $250,000 to ‘Daily Show’ host Trevor Noah
Trevor Noah has won a slew of awards as host of “The Daily Show,” but the comedian’s most recent prize praises his philanthropy.
Noah received the inaugural Catalyst award from the Miami-based Elevate Prize Foundation, the nonprofit announced Wednesday. The honor comes with a $250,000 prize that the comedian will put toward the Trevor Noah Foundation, a nonprofit that works with young people in his native South Africa.
The Elevate Prize, founded by Joseph Dietch, selects 10 nonprofits worldwide in a competitive application process each year. But the foundation’s new award will spotlight celebrities who already have a large fan base and are using their platforms to move the needle on issues and inspire their followers to take action. An internal committee selects the winners.
“We believe Trevor Noah is a great embodiment and example of building a fan base and platform and choosing to do good with it,” said Carolina García Jayaram, founding executive director of the Elevate Prize Foundation. “He’s an icon of social commentary in the U.S. and he’s one of the most important voices in contemporary media.”
Last year, Noah made Fortune’s 40 under 40 list of the most influential people in the world. Time magazine previously listed him as one of the 100 most influential people of 2018. Noah’s reach is especially pronounced among millennials. The 37-year-old is credited with bringing a younger audience to ‘The Daily Show.”
Over the last year, Noah has called on viewers to help raise funds for pandemic relief. He has also been vocal about the racial protests over police brutality in the U.S., sharing his own experiences with racism growing up as the biracial son of a Black mother and a white Swiss father under apartheid in South Africa. Noah launched his foundation in 2018 to improve educational opportunities in his home country.
“I firmly believe that humanity is good at its core and that the more we amplify important issues and underrepresented stories the greater chance we have to drive necessary change, especially in the little worlds that we all live in that can affect the world,” Noah said in a videorecorded remark as he accepted the Catalyst award.
The Elevate Prize Foundation expects to announce at least one more Catalyst award winner this year, and between three and four additional recipients each year. The application for the foundation’s eponymous award is open until May 5 and will go to 10 recipients who inspire others to do good. The prize is $300,000 and two years of professional development support. Winners will be announced in October.