In 2019, the Conference on Crimes Against Women created the IGNITE award to highlight and honor various courageous efforts that are sparking awareness and action across the country, bringing injustice out of the darkness and lighting the fire of change not only in the recipients’ local communities, but across the nation.
Ignite Award
2023 Recipient – Tulane University’s Women’s Prison Project
The Conference on Crimes Against Women is proud to present the 2023 IGNITE Award to The Women’s Prison Project, a first-of-its-kind collaboration between Tulane’s Domestic Violence and Criminal Justice Clinics. The organization is being honored for its work to support survivors charged or imprisoned after killing an abuser in self-defense or for having committed crimes under an abuser’s coercion or duress.
2022 Recipient – Tracy Matheson
The Conference on Crimes Against Women was proud to present the 2022 IGNITE Award to Tracy Matheson: mother, legislative champion, and founder of Project Beloved. After her daughter, Molly Jane, was raped and murdered in 2017, Tracy made it her life’s work to create change for victims of sexual assault.
Pictured from top left: Bridgette Stumpf of NVRDC, Lisa Jaworsky, Officer Amy K. Cummins. Pictured from bottom left: Matthew Minick, Carla Maley, Shantel Standefer
2021 Recipients
At the 16th Annual Virtual Conference on Crimes Against Women, we selected The Network for Victim Recovery of DC (NVRDC) team to receive the inaugural Conference on Crimes Against Women’s IGNITE Award.
As COVID-19 ravaged through the United States and the world, thousands of advocates, law enforcement, prosecutors, medical personnel, and others stepped up to ensure survivors still received justice. The IGNITE winners are: The Network for Victim Recovery of DC (NVRDC), Lisa Jaworsky, Officer Amy K. Cummins, Matthew Minick, Carla Maley, and Shantel Standefer. Thanks to incredible individuals like these, survivors were able to receive care during an especially tumultuous time in our world.
Pictured from left: Renee Jones Schneider, MaryJo Webster, Brandon Stahl, Jennifer Bjorhus
2019 Recipient
At the 14th Annual Virtual Conference on Crimes Against Women, we selected the Minnesota Star Tribune’s Denied Justice team to receive the inaugural Conference on Crimes Against Women’s IGNITE Award.
It is difficult to know the countless hours of investigation, fact checking, writing, and production that went into the exhaustive exposé that is Denied Justice. We applaud the Star Tribune’s commitment of time, space and resources. And, we are honored to have the opportunity to recognize Brandon Stahl, MaryJo Webster, Reneé Jones Schneider, and Jennifer Bjorhus for holding our systems accountable to ensure survivors of sexual assault receive the justice they deserve.
