Updated on 8/12/25 to offer a replay link instead of being an invitation to join.

We’re pleased to share the news that this year, we bestowed our prestigious Homo Ahimsa Award to activists, authors, and Compassion Consortium cofounders Victoria Moran and William Melton. To accompany our award for compassionate actions, we launched Homo Ahimsa Day and Awareness Week with daily acts of compassion to practice. Watch our virtual ceremony to hear all about it.

The Homo Ahimsa Award honors those who live in nonviolent, respectful, and ahimsa partnership with all life. On July 27, we held the award ceremony on our first-ever Homo Ahimsa Day, calling upon everyone to practice compassion for all beings with seven specific actions to take for our inaugural Homo Ahimsa Awareness Week, inspiring all of us to co-create worldwide peace for all beings.

Our recognition of Victoria Moran and William Melton as the recipients of the Homo Ahimsa Award signifies a growing shift toward compassion for animals and away from animal exploitation. Victoria Moran and William Melton cofounded the Compassion Consortium to provide spiritual care and community for animal advocates worldwide. 

Our Interfaith Vegan Coalition recommends the following actions for the seven days of compassionate practices.

7 Days, 7 Actions:

1. Sunday, July 27: Join the Homo Ahimsa Award Ceremony
2. Monday, July 28: Download and share In Defense of Animals’ Veg Guide
3. Tuesday, July 29: Take  a meat-eater out for a vegan meal (make a recipe in the Veg Guide or find a local vegan restaurant on Happy Cow)
4. Wednesday, July 30: Watch the movie, “A Prayer for Compassion”
5. Thursday, July 31: Read a chapter of a book on compassion for animals, such as Homo Ahimsa, Sacred Sendoffs, Mainstreet Vegan, and Age Like a Yogi
6. Friday, August 1: Learn about Respect for Fish Day
7. Saturday, August 2: Teach a child how a mother cow’s milk is created for her baby (watch this 5-minute explainer video)

Our Interfaith Vegan Coalition established the Homo Ahimsa Award in 2021 to honor those who exemplify the qualities of Homo ahimsa in outstanding ways and demonstrate how vegan living can co-create a world of peace, partnership, and loving-kindness by ending violence and domination of people, animals, and the Earth. The award is named after the book Homo Ahimsa: Who We Really Are and How We’re Going to Save the World by coalition cofounder Judy Carman, who coined the term.

We can stop violence to animals, people, and the Earth caused by our species, Homo sapiens, by making a personal commitment to nonviolence. Together we can evolve and become a kinder species: Homo ahimsa.

Watch the Homo Ahimsa Award Ceremony featuring Victoria Moran, William Melton, and Rev. Sarah Bowen from the Compassion Consortium.

Discover our faith-based vegan advocacy and get involved at: www.interfaithvegancoalition.org 

Three-fourths of people in the world identify with a religion or spiritual tradition. We provide spiritual resources like vegan advocacy kits to help everyone practice compassion for animals. Support our lifesaving work by making a donation today!