Bright Lights
Celebrating Louisiana Luminaries
Thank you to everyone who made the 2024 Bright Lights Awards Dinner a success!
Every spring, the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities celebrates the brightest lights in Louisiana humanities at the Bright Lights Awards Dinner. The annual event recognizes the recipients of the LEH’s Humanities Awards, honoring individuals and organizations who have made significant contributions to the study and understanding of the humanities.
The LEH and Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser hosted the 2024 Bright Lights Awards Dinner, presented by Entergy, on Tuesday, April 23, at the Capitol Park Museum.
The 2024 Humanities Awards
The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities is pleased to announce that Richard “Dickie” Landry (left)—saxophonist, composer, photographer, and painter—has been named 2024 Humanist of the Year. In addition, the 2024 awardees include:
- Champion of Culture: Nick Mueller
- Chair’s Award for Institutional Support: Charles Lamar Family Foundation
- Documentary Photographer of the Year: Ben Depp
- Humanities Book of the Year: The Great Power of Small Nations: Indigenous Diplomacy in the Gulf South by Elizabeth Ellis
- Humanities Documentary Film of the Year: The Precipice directed by Ben Johnson and produced by Linda Midgett
- Lifetime Contributions to the Humanities: Freddi Williams Evans
- Museum Exhibition of the Year: The Louisiana State Museum at the Cabildo’s Creole New Orleans, Honey!
- Light Up for Literacy: Jane Wolfe
THANK YOU TO OUR 2024 SPONSORS:
Event History
Since 1985, the LEH has honored leading humanities scholars, authors, poets, literacy advocates, photographers, humanities patrons, and documentary filmmakers in Louisiana through the Humanities Awards.
The annual Bright Lights Awards Gala brings together local officials, community leaders, and humanities advocates alike to celebrate the year’s awardees and all that the humanities can achieve.
See the full list of Humanities Awards winners from 1985 to now here.
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