Eighty-one years of the United Nations: Nina at the 2026 Spirit of the UN Awards

On Thursday 22 October 2026, in celebration of the 81st anniversary of the United Nations, our founder Dr Nina Meyerhof was in New York for the 2026 Spirit of the United Nations Awards, hosted by the NGO Committee on Spirituality, Values and Global Concerns – New York (CSVGC-NY) at the Salvation Army International Auditorium.

The awards recognise individuals whose leadership and service embody the spiritual principles and universal values at the heart of the United Nations. This year’s honourees were Ambassador Egriselda López, Jayathma Wickramanayake, Dileepkumar Thankappan and Shenali Rajaratnam.

Nina was on stage in her own right: as a member of the CSVGC-NY Council and the NGO representative of Children of the Earth, she presented the evening’s Token of Appreciation — a certificate given to one of the people whose work behind the scenes makes the committee’s year possible.

Children of the Earth has been part of the UN’s civil-society community since its founding in 1990 — a year that began at the World Summit for Children, where the torch we still carry was first blessed. Nina also serves CSVGC-NY as Keeper of the Sacred, opening its gatherings; at the committee’s general meeting in September she did so alongside a keynote on children’s rights and the new Children’s Day of Peace campaign for 20 November (read more).

For Nina the visit was also a return to the place where this work began — rooms where, thirty-six years ago, a young educator from Vermont decided that young people should not only be spoken about at the United Nations, but heard there.

Nina’s own reflections on the visit will follow.