NEW YORK, NY - October 27, 2008 - The untold stories of eight changemakers whose remarkable on the ground work has significantly improved children's lives will be showcased on November 13 by World of Children (worldofchildren), the only global recognition and funding non-profit that recognizes individuals who are changing the lives of children around the world.

These stalwart individuals each will be awarded with what has recently been hailed as the "Nobel Prize® for Children," an annual honor that includes a cash grant of up to $75,000 for the honoree's program. The 2008 Award winners will be honored at the 11th annual World of Children awards ceremony on Thursday, November 13th at UNICEF House in New York City.

"We are truly humbled and inspired by these brave and selfless individuals," said Harry Leibowitz, World of Children's founder and chairman. "These extraordinary World of Children honorees have notably improved the lives of children, and set an example for us all."

For more than a decade, World of Children has identified and vetted some of the most promising changemakers for children worldwide and provided funding for their efforts to improve children's lives. The organization's exhaustive research and vetting of individuals spearheading health and humanitarian initiatives across the global spectrum has been hailed by leading philanthropic organizations.

World of Children is led by co-founders Harry Leibowitz and Kay Isaacson-Leibowitz, retired senior executives from Procter & Gamble and Victoria's Secret, whose dream is to assure a Nobel Prize®-like award to honor social changemakers who improve the lives of children. Since 1998, World of Children has awarded more than $2 million in cash grants to 70 changemakers working in more than 35 countries.

The 2008 World of Children honorees are: 2008 Humanitarian Award Honorees

Rita Conceição has risen above her impoverished upbringing in Brazil's notorious shantytowns to dedicate her life to the children living in those shantytowns today. Focusing her abundant strength, creativity and vision, Conceição co-founded Bahia Street, a school serving impoverished African-Brazilian girls, many of whom have been through the trauma of sexual molestation and violence. Drawing upon Conceição's deep understanding of the complexities of poverty, racism, and sexism, Bahia Street provides children with educational, health, nutritional and emotional support.

Ricky Richard Anywar of Uganda was abducted at age 14 to serve as a child soldier in the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), an experience that included witnessing the horrors of torture, rape, and the murder of his parents. Anywar managed to escape from his captors and subsequently began dedicating his life to helping other former LRA children. Anywar founded the Friends of Orphans (FRO) in Northern Uganda, which helps former LRA child soldiers and abductees by first helping to meet their basic needs and then assisting them with personal development and empowerment activities. FRO's services for these children re-entering society include teaching human rights, peace building and conflict management, as well as vocational training, educational programs and HIV/AIDS programs.

Dr. Edward Zigler has improved the health, education, social and emotional well being of nearly every child in America and thousands worldwide through five decades of pioneering work in early childhood development. After revolutionizing the field in 1965 by helping to found Project Head Start, Zigler has shaped early childhood intervention, education and child care ever since. Most recently, Zigler was instrumental in developing the Parents as Teachers National Center (PATNC), a program that has served more than 2 million children in all 50 states of the U.S. as well as nine other countries. Under Zigler's guidance, the program emphasizes equality of opportunity in the early years of a child's life regardless of demographic, geographic or economic considerations and highlights early childhood as a critical period for optimal development and success in life.

Dr. Jumana Odeh has spent a lifetime in her native Palestine helping improve the health of the most vulnerable members of the Palestinian society: children with disabilities. Disabilities are often a taboo topic within this culture, yet through the efforts of Dr. Odeh this taboo is steadily dissipating. Odeh founded the Palestinian Happy Child Center (PHCC) in 1994 in impoverished Ramallah, where Palestinian children receive treatment for trauma and neurological disorders, as well as learning and developmental disabilities. The Center also endeavors to provide normalcy for children through unconditional support regardless of political and socioeconomic conditions.

Tibebe Maco has devoted most of her life to helping orphans and the poorest and most vulnerable citizens in Ethiopia. A strong advocate for children's rights to receive health care, education, food, and shelter, Sister Maco often spends her own salary to purchase food for others. Because of her initiative, more than 10,000 orphans and impoverished children now have health care, education, nutrition, psychological support and vocational training. Further, as director of Hiwot HIV/AIDS Prevention, Care and Support Organization (HAPCSO), Sister Maco spends most of her time treating sick children, including those afflicted with AIDS. It is no surprise the community views her as their angel.

Frank Brady was inspired by his own health crisis, a serious heart condition, to fight against inadequate patient care around the globe. Brady formed Medical Missions for Children (MMC) in 1999 to use communication technology to enable pediatric specialists to remotely examine and diagnose critically ill children. As a result, MMC has improved the quality of children's health care in the world's most impoverished regions. Under MMC's approach, medical specialists at top institutions counsel their less specialized colleagues on patient treatment and therapy through a telemedicine session using video conferencing and remote diagnostic equipment. MMC has helped provide care in more than 100 countries and has assisted in the recent treatment of more than 30,000 children. MMC also operates the Medical Broadcasting Channel (MBC) a global Television Network that provides medical symposia to underserved hospitals including 750 hospitals in China.

Talia Leman, 13 years old and living in rural Iowa, began empowering her peers to solve real world problems in 2005 when she helped organize fundraising relief efforts by children nationwide for victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Children rallied by Leman ended up raising more than $10 million. Wanting to do more, Leman then founded RandomKid, a nonprofit organization that through its web site has helped children in 48 states in the U.S. and in 19 countries to develop funding solutions to real world problems. Examples include: helping fund a school for 300 children in Cambodia: helping fund and refurbish a school for 200 children in Slidell, Louisiana; providing an interactive play center serving 500 hospitalized kids in Iowa; and, raising funds to buy water pumps in Africa. Now 13, Leman is also helping peers develop fundraising strategies for their own social entrepreneurial ventures.

Darius Weems of Athens, Georgia is a 19-year old with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), a fatal disease that took the life of his brother, Mario, six years ago and is the number one genetic killer of children worldwide. Despite the fact that his muscles have almost fully deteriorated Darius has spent the last 3 years traveling the country, raising awareness and money to find a cure for DMD. Never before having left his hometown, Darius and 11 friends rented a wheelchair accessible RV in 2005 for a road trip to Los Angeles to raise awareness as they traveled all across the nation. The journey was filmed and released as "Darius Goes West: The Roll of His Life". The film has won 25 awards worldwide, 20 of which are Audience Choice Awards, and raised more than $1 million for DMD research. Darius will donate his World of Children grant funds to Charley's Fund, an organization dedicated to finding a cure.

World of Children (worldofchildren) is the only global recognition and funding program for people specifically and exclusively serving the needs of children. Now an eleven-year old philanthropy dedicated to identifying and leveraging the efforts of those working on the ground to improve children's lives, World of Children has recognized some of the most promising changemakers for children worldwide and provided funding and visibility for their efforts.

Hailed as the "Nobel Prize© for Children," the World of Children Awards program searches the globe for everyday changemakers and provides funding and recognition to support their life-changing work for children. As such, World of Children acts like a social venture capitalist - employing a world-class research, review, vetting and selection process led by a committee of independent experts and professionals to find those individuals who are pioneering life-changing programs to benefit children. Then World of Children invests, through cash grants, in those enterprising individuals with a demonstrated track record of success, honors them at an annual awards ceremony in New York City and helps them leverage their World of Children awards to raise additional funds and generate visibility and strategic partnerships for their programs.

Leading philanthropies praise this organization's extensive worldwide research and vetting of extraordinary individuals who are spearheading health and humanitarian programs. World of Children has awarded more than $2 million in cash grants to 70 changemakers for children working in over 35 countries.