Victoria Roshchyna returned to occupied Ukraine to report on the lives of civilians. Toomaj Salehi used his lyrics to speak out against repression in Iran. On October 28, 2026, the Washington OXI Day Foundation honored the Ukrainian journalist and the Iranian rapper at its annual OXI Courage Awards in Washington, D.C., marking the 86th anniversary of Greece’s refusal to yield to an Italian ultimatum in 1940.
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For the first time in the event’s history, the gala was held at Washington National Cathedral. Pews in the nave gave way to dinner tables for more than 240 guests, including Greece’s ambassador to the United States, Antonis Alexandridis, and diplomats from Ukraine and Cyprus.
Roshchyna received the award posthumously. In March 2022, her car came under fire from Russian tanks, and Russian forces detained her for ten days. After her release, she continued documenting what civilians were experiencing under Russian occupation. She disappeared in August 2023 while on a reporting assignment in occupied Ukraine. She was later confirmed to have died in Russian custody at the age of 27.
Foundation co-founder Andy Manatos presented her award to Simon Shuster of The Atlantic. Roshchyna’s father, who was too ill to travel, had personally asked Shuster to accept it. In a message read at the ceremony, he remembered his daughter as a fifth grader writing her first story for the school newspaper. Years later, father and daughter had booked tickets and a hotel in Washington so she could accept an award for her journalism. She went back to Mariupol to report instead. As her father wrote, “the truth must not be allowed to die in captivity.”
The second award honored Iranian rapper and activist Toomaj Salehi, whose music has exposed corruption and human rights abuses in Iran. He was arrested in October 2022 during the nationwide protests that followed the death of Mahsa Jina Amini in custody.
In a message from Iran, Salehi dedicated the award to his fellow Iranians who continue to risk everything to say no to oppression. Carl Gershman, longtime president of the National Endowment for Democracy, presented the award to Azadeh Afsahi, founder of Houses Foundation, who accepted it on Salehi’s behalf.
Andy Manatos and his son Mike Manatos, now executive director of The Hellenic Initiative, founded the Washington OXI Day Foundation in 2010. Each year, the foundation marks the anniversary of Greece’s “Oxi,” or “No,” by honoring people who have risked their lives to defend freedom. What united this year’s honorees, Andy Manatos said, was that despite the threats both faced, neither allowed themselves to be silenced.
