Noted.

CITIZEN HIGHTOWER: Each year, the Puffin Foundation and The Nation Institute recognize an individual who has challenged the status quo through distinctive, courageous, imaginative and socially responsible work. The previous recipients were environmental activist Van Jones, human rights lawyer Michael Ratner, Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman, educator and author Jonathan Kozol, journalist and author Barbara Ehrenreich, professor and anti-death penalty advocate David Protess, labor activist Dolores Huerta and civil rights pioneer Robert Parris Moses.

Jim Hightower is the ninth winner of the prestigious award. An advocate for everyday people whose voices are seldom heard in Washington or on Wall Street, Hightower believes that "politics isn't about left versus right; it's about top versus bottom." He broadcasts daily radio commentaries, which are on more than 150 stations across the country, on subjects ranging from public healthcare to Hamid Karzai. Each month, Hightower publishes a populist political newsletter, the Hightower Lowdown, exposing hypocrisy in Congress and targeting the abuses of corporations. With more than 135,000 subscribers, the Lowdown has received both the Alternative Press Award and the Independent Press Association Award for best national newsletter.

Twice elected Texas agriculture commissioner, Hightower was praised for nurturing organic production, promoting alternative crops, regulating pesticides and monitoring groundwater. A New York Times bestselling author, he has written seven books, including his most recent, written with longtime partner Susan DeMarco, Swim Against the Current.

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