KATHMANDU, Dec 3: Nepal’s Pushpa Basnet, who has been working to support children living with their jailed parents, has been named the 2012 CNN Hero of the Year amid a program in Los Angeles on Sunday night.
According to CNN, Basnet, 29, was chosen as Hero of the Year through a nine-week public vote held on CNN.com. Basnet was selected from over 10,000 social workers participating in the competition from around the globe.
With the title, she receives $250,000 to continue her work. That is in addition to the $50,000 that each of the top 10 Heroes are receiving. The other nine top Heroes are Wanda Butts, Mary Cortani, Catalina Escobar, Catalina Escobar, Thulani Madondo, Leo McCarthy, Connie Siskowski, Scott Strode and Malya Villard-Appolon.
Pushpa Basnet
CNN´s Anderson Cooper announced the results while Academy Award winning actress Susan Sarandon presented Basnet with an award as one of the Top 10 CNN Hero es of 2012.
"Mamu´s going to take you out from the prison, and you´re coming to my place," CNN quoted Basent as saying while receiving the award. "This is for my children, and this is for my country Nepal. Thank you so much everybody who voted for me and who believed in my dream."
Basnet has been running Early Childhood Development Centre since 2005 which helps children of imprisoned parents in Nepal.
This is the sixth year of the CNN Heroes campaign. Earlier, another Nepali Anuradha Koirala , who runs Maiti Nepal, a social organization, had bagged the 2010 CNN Hero award for her anti-human trafficking drive in Nepal.
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