Athlete Ally Action Awards to Honor Team USA’s Nikki Hiltz
July 19, 2024 (New York, NY) – Today, Athlete Ally announced that Nikki Hiltz — the first openly nonbinary runner to win a USA Track and Field championship title – will be honored at the 2024 Athlete Ally Action Awards. Athlete Ally is a nonprofit organization focused on fostering inclusive athletic environments and mobilizing the athletic community to champion LGBTQI+ equality. The Action Awards will be held on Thursday, October 17th at 6pm EST in New York City. Additional honorees and presenters will be announced soon.
Nikki Hiltz is a nonbinary professional track and field athlete representing the United States at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The middle-distance specialist is an Olympian, 6 time National Champion, World Indoor Silver Medalist, Pan American Games gold medalist and American Record Holder in the mile. Nikki is also a vocal advocate for equal rights, particularly passionate about making the sport of running more inclusive and fundraising for services that support the young LGBTQIA+ community. In 2020, they founded the Pride 5K, a race which supports LGBTQIA+ nonprofits. Hiltz’s annual event has raised over $162,000 and they are currently planning the fifth iteration of the event in 2024.
“The global athletic community changes for the better when pioneers like Nikki Hiltz pave the way forward by being proudly and authentically who they are,” said Hudson Taylor, Founder and Executive Director of Athlete Ally. “Nikki is a true champion for inclusion on and off the track, and we’re thrilled to honor them at the Action Awards.”
“My mom wasn’t allowed to play sports in high school because title IX hadn’t gone into effect yet,” said Nikki Hiltz. “When she told me this when I was a kid I almost didn’t believe her. I could not imagine a world without women playing sports. My hope is that one day my kids are in the same state of shock and disbelief as I was when I tell them there was once a time when trans people weren’t allowed to participate in sports.
My goal is a world in which trans people are welcomed and celebrated throughout sport and I believe wholeheartedly that we can get there and it is because of organizations like Athlete Ally who are fighting for trans inclusion every single day. I am truly honored to receive this Action Award and continue to advocate alongside Athlete Ally for the world we both believe is possible.”
To learn more or purchase tickets to the Awards, click here.
About Athlete Ally and the Action Awards
Athlete Ally believes sport will change the world when it welcomes and empowers all people. As a leading national nonprofit working at the intersection of sport and LGBTQI+ equality, Athlete Ally works to end the structural and systemic oppression that isolates, excludes and endangers LGBTQI+ people in sport. We educate individuals and institutions to understand obstacles to inclusion for LGBTQI+ people and how they can build an inclusive culture within their athletic communities. We work to ensure sport governing bodies, teams and leagues adopt policies that reflect the diversity of their constituents. We incubate athlete activism to advance LGBTQI+ equality in and through sport.
The 2024 Athlete Ally Action awards are made possible due to generous support from Gillette, the National Basketball Association (NBA), TransPerfect, the United States Tennis Association (USTA), Gatorade and Dow in addition to individual supporters and other corporate support.