'Alternative Nobels Prize' winners announced

The Stockholm-based Right Livelihood Award Foundation released the winner's names on Thursday.

The winners of the 2015 awards are Tody de Brum and the people of the Marshall Islands, Sheila Watt-Cloutier, Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera, and Gino Strada and his aid organization Emergency.

Officially called the Right Livelihood Award, the prize is often referred to as the "Alternative Nobel Prize." The prize's aim is to recognize "inspiring and remarkable work" by people and organizations "offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today."

Unlike the Nobel Foundation, the Right Livelihood Foundation does not divide its awards by categories, and aims to highlight the achievements of those who do not only reside in the "world's political, scientific or economic elite," the website said.

The winners are as diverse in their agendas as they are in their nationalities. De Brum, foreign minister of the Marshall Islands, was recognized for his efforts to hold nuclear weapons states accountable for not abiding by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treat (NPT).

Strada received the award for his organization's efforts to provide medical assistance to the victims of conflict in countries such as Afghanistan and Sudan.

Watt-Cloutier was honored for her dedication to protecting Inuit rights in the Arctic, while Kasha Jackqueline Nabagesera was lauded for advocating LGBT rights in Uganda.

Following the announcement, Nabagesera congratulated her fellow winners on Twitter.

"Very honored and humbled," she wrote.

The award was established in 1980. There are over 160 Laureates from 67 countries.

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