The 18th 2023 Love Award Ceremony will premiere on Phoenix TV at 10 pm this Saturday
The 18th 2023 Love Award Ceremony, hosted by the Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan Charity Foundation, co organized and produced by Phoenix TV, and co organized by the East West Charity Forum, Chen Shouren Foundation, Xu Xiaohui Memorial Foundation, Taiwan Wu Xiuqi, Wu Junjie Public Welfare Foundation, and Modern Finance Foundation, was previously held at Phoenix TV's Tai Po headquarters in Hong Kong. The program will premiere on Phoenix TV's Chinese, European, American, Phoenix Network, and Phoenix Show at 10 pm on December 23 (Saturday), and broadcast on Hong Kong TV at 8 pm on December 24 (Sunday).
The winners of this year include: Shanghai Soong Ching Ling Foundation, Wang Songtang, Liu Xiaogang, and Chen Xingjia from mainland China; Hong Kong Relief Movement; Taiwanese philanthropists, philanthropists, and non-profit organizations such as Yuan Wanding and the Cancer Hope Foundation, among whom the Shanghai Soong Ching Ling Foundation was the first group recipient of this award. They all pursue public welfare and show great love in their respective fields.
全体得奖者合照
Host of the lighting ceremony (from left): Tang Yiyuan, Lu Mai, Zhou Bingde, Liang Aishi, Liang Hongzheng, Li Zhuofen, Wang Zhenyao, Xu Wei, Wang Maolin
The Love Award was founded in 2006 by Lin Tien mao, the founding chairman of the Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan Charity Foundation. Starting from Hong Kong, the selection scope has been extended to the global Chinese community. It is a public welfare and charity award that integrates people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait, Hong Kong, Macau, and even the global Chinese community. The prize money has been increasing year by year, and this year it has been raised to $180000 per winner. The full prize money will be used for public welfare and charity in the participating regions, benefiting more vulnerable groups.
The current Love Award ceremony has invited former Secretary for Justice of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Elsie Leung, Deputy Director of the Civil Affairs and Youth Affairs Bureau, Leung Hung Ching, former Director of the Taiwan Affairs Department of the Liaison Office, Tang Yiyuan, Chairman of the China Public Welfare Research Institute, Wang Zhenyao, Chairman of the Love Award Election Committee, Li Zhuofen, Founding Chairman of the Beijing Da Luan Xiangyu Charity Foundation, Zhou Bingde, Former Vice Chairman of the China Development Research Foundation, Lu Mai, Editor in Chief of China Philanthropist, Liu Wanyuan, Chairman of the Lao Niu Brothers Foundation, Niu Ben, Executive President of the East West Charity Forum, Xu Wei, Chairman and CEO of Phoenix TV, Huang Huizhen, Chairman of the Modern Finance Foundation, Li Shenyi, Vice Chairman of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, Chairman of the Charity Foundation Wang Maolin, Honorary Chairman Qian Liyou, Zhang Binghuang, Vice Chairmen Chen Zhaomanju, Li Jiayin, JJ Lin Zhai Pu and other guests attended and joined hands to spread love.
Liang Aishi (left) and Zhou Bingde meet happily
In his speech, Wang Zhenyao, Chairman of the China Public Welfare Research Institute, said, "As time enters the 18th Love Award Ceremony, all of us who have grown up with the Love Award will find that this Love Award, which is aimed at Chinese people around the world, has crossed various boundaries and become a shining pearl for the Chinese nation to jointly promote the virtues of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness, and to consolidate the path of harmony, peace, and goodness
Speech by Wang Zhenyao
In her speech, Chairman Li Zhuofen of the Love Award Final Selection Committee said, "The Love Award is 18 years old this year. As the saying goes, 18 girls have a flower. But our Love Award is not just a flower. Over the years, there have been 114 exemplary examples of good people and deeds who have won the Love Award, each with its own beauty and charm. Therefore, the Love Award is actually a garden full of flowers. Every example of great love between people is a good example for us to learn from. We are truly grateful for the love education they have given us
Speech by Li Zhuofen
In his speech, Xu Wei, Chairman and CEO of Phoenix TV, pointed out that "this year's Love Award goes further by including public welfare and charity organizations in the evaluation, discovering more good deeds, and perceiving more love. Phoenix TV has gathered with everyone for good and walked together for love, and has benefited a lot along the way
Speech by Xu Wei
The winners of this year's award are the influential Shanghai Soong Ching Ling Foundation, which was established in 1986 and cares about the healthy development of women, children, and others, promoting the progress of the public welfare industry and society. When delivering her acceptance speech, the representative of the foundation, Zhu Yaping, said, "As a foundation named after Mr. Soong Ching ling, we will definitely uphold her charitable philosophy, especially strengthen cooperation with international organizations, and cooperate with public welfare organizations in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and places with Chinese people, so that wherever there are Chinese people, there will be Mr. Soong Ching ling's great love
Chairman Liang Aishi (right) and Chairman Wang Zhenyao (left) present awards to representatives of the Shanghai Soong Ching Ling Foundation
Mr. Wang Songtang, who is already 85 years old this year, founded the Guangdong Public Welfare Orphanage Assistance Promotion Association in 2004. He is a highly respected leader in the public welfare and charity industry. He works from 9 to 5 every day, wearing a waist protector and leaning on a cane to visit the countryside, inspiring more than 4300 volunteers and gathering the power of kindness. In his acceptance speech, he said, "Charity is the ancient call and millennium expectation of humanity. It is impossible for our generation to fully achieve this mission, but every effort is close to the goal, including the Love Award ceremony. For a country or nation to survive, reproduce, and develop, there must always be some people who stand up and lead when and where they need it
Zhai Pu (left) and Chen Zhao Manju (right), the initiators, presented awards to Wang Songtang
Ms. Liu Xiaogang, the winner, is the first Chinese entrepreneur to make charity a cause and conduct professional operations. In 2009, she founded the Qianhe Community Foundation, the first community foundation in China. In her speech, she talked about her experience: a good society requires many good communities as its foundation. The process of promoting community public welfare has made us realize that the core is "people". The ordinary people in these communities need more companionship and empowerment to grow up healthily, understand the community they live and work in, and then give back and contribute to the community. In this virtuous cycle, community problems can be solved by mobilizing community resources.
刘小钢从牛犇理事长(左)和王庆泓执行总裁(右)手中接过奖杯和奖状
深圳市恒晖公益基金会创办人陈行甲亦是本届得奖者，他通过创新公益实践，建立针对脆弱群体的社会支持系统，推动公益在社会体系中的价值。温暖而神奇的是，领奖当天也是陈行甲母亲80岁冥寿，陈行甲表示想将爱心大奖献给在天堂的母亲，感谢她一直在他心中传递力量，他亦感慨道：“公益是谦卑敬畏的心灵去面对生命，然后去温暖地和另一个生命连接。公益不仅仅需要感性的冲动，更需要理性地对待。”
陈行甲與颁奖嘉宾刘婉媛总编辑(左)、卢迈原副理事长(右)合照
香港地区得奖者释宽运大和尚是名慈悲出家人，现任香港佛教联合会会长、西方寺方丈，多年来推动社福慈善及文化教育，获中华慈善总会颁发“中华慈善事业突出贡献奖”，兼授予“中华慈善人物”称号。他说：“我们的社会相依而存，相拥而暖，希望小爱变大爱，大爱升华变慈悲，慈悲升华变大慈大悲，只有大慈大悲，才能真正传递爱，因为真正的爱，就是我们每个人的真心。”
释宽运大和尚的颁奖嘉宾：李嘉音副主席(左)、李焯芬主席(右)
台湾地区得奖者之一袁万丁是万昌基金会创办人、宏致电子股份有限公司董事长，白手起家，现年收百亿，带领全球七千位员工投入慈善近20年，以“行动式公益”理念，捐赠上亿台币造百台公益车辆，首创每辆车都以优秀员工为名，其中“行动图书车”项目影响深远。他说道：“‘行动图书车’穿梭在我们家乡大街小巷，散播书本芳香，改变阅读习惯，希望也能改变我们这个社会，更重要是有可能改变小朋友的未来。”
袁万丁由黄辉珍董事长(左)颁奖状及张炳煌董事长(右)颁奖杯
同样来自台湾地区的获奖者癌症希望基金会成立于2002年，期许成为“癌后生活领航员”，帮助癌友培养4个新力量——知识力、生活力、复原力、参与力。不仅成立希望小站，逾75万人次受惠，也建立了“台湾癌症资源网”——全台最大癌症资源平台。基金会代表领奖人黄少华在台上几乎哽咽，他提及每年做公益会花掉两三千万港币，所以爱心奖18万美金奖金是支撑他们走下去的很大的助力。
癌症希望基金会黄少华由李伸一董事长(左)、钱立佑永远荣誉主席(右)颁奖
自2017年开始，爱心奖颁奖典礼由凤凰卫视协办及制作播出。本届颁奖典礼是疫情后首次回归香港举行，凤凰卫视主持人田川、饶祥以、黄橙子、姜声扬，声情并茂地轮流介绍7名得奖者的慈善历程，配合台上荧幕播出的得奖者专访故事短片，彰显他们为社会无私奉献的精神，赢得现场持续的掌声。
凤凰卫视主持人（左起）：姜声扬、黄橙子、饶祥以、田川
颁奖礼还请来香港歌手连诗雅动情演唱《旧街角》，亦请来香港青年乐团带来精彩的弦乐四重奏，并与五年前就在爱心奖舞台表演过的Audrey林尔琪共同演绎歌曲《挥着翅膀的女孩》。
表演嘉宾：香港歌手连诗雅
表演嘉宾:林尔琪
表演嘉宾：香港青年乐团
爱心奖成立18载，以香港为基地，走向台湾、内地、全球华人，2025年第20届起，全世界不分国家、种族、宗教，共选爱心楷模，用爱心把全球慈善家、公益机构连结，共融发展。第19届‧2024爱心奖即将启动，请大家鼓励全球华裔慈善家及公益机构踊跃报名参与甄选。
