Leif Erikson Awards

Lore & Background

The Leif Erikson Awards were first awarded in 2015, announced by President of Iceland Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson on 9 July at the Reykjavík University Auditorium. The awards are the main and final event of the annual Húsavík Explorers Festival, which first took place in 2015 with events in Húsavík and Reykjavík. The festival format took shape in 2016 and has since included short expeditions, outdoor activities, young explorers workshops, talks, concerts, film screenings, and art exhibitions.

Reader's Guide

The Leif Erikson Awards recognize explorers and historians who advance human understanding of the world and its past. Named after the Norse explorer who first reached North America, the awards connect modern exploration to Iceland's heritage. Winners are chosen by the Exploration Museum's Scientific Committee, whose chairperson is the previous year's Exploration History Award winner. The awards have been presented by two former Presidents of Iceland, Guðni Th. Jóhannesson and Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, as well as by BBC World News Anchor Babita Sharma, pilot and news anchor Amelia Rose Earhart, and Exploration Museum founder Orly Orlyson. The 2020 ceremony was held via live-stream due to the pandemic. The awards highlight both lifetime achievements and emerging explorers under 35, ensuring continuity in the field.

Did You Know?

• The awards are sometimes referred to as the Exploration Awards.
• The chairperson of the Scientific Committee is the previous year's Exploration History Award winner.
• The 2020 awards were presented via live-stream from the Explorers Festival in Húsavík.
• Two former Presidents of Iceland have presented the awards.

Origins & the Name Behind the Prize

The Leif Erikson Awards draw their name from the legendary Icelandic navigator who, according to the Sagas of Icelanders, became the first European to set foot on North American soil. Erikson is credited with founding the earliest Norse settlement at Vinland, a site that scholars tentatively link to L'Anse aux Meadows on the northern tip of Newfoundland in present-day Canada. This deep historical connection gives the award a sense of lineage stretching back nearly a millennium. The Exploration Museum in Húsavík, Iceland, serves as the steward of the prize, which is sometimes called the Exploration Awards. First presented in 2015, the recognition honors contributions to both active exploration and the broader field of exploration history, tying the modern pursuit of discovery to Iceland's storied maritime past.

Structure, Categories & the Voting Committee

The Leif Erikson Awards are distributed across three distinct categories, each targeting a different facet of the exploration world. The first honors an individual explorer for a lifetime of achievement in the field. The second is reserved for a younger explorer, specifically someone under the age of thirty-five, recognizing early-career accomplishments. The third category extends the prize to a person or organization whose work has focused on promoting and preserving exploration history. Selection of recipients falls to the Exploration Museum's Scientific Committee, whose members cast the deciding votes. The committee is appointed annually by the museum's board, with one notable exception: the chairperson position is held by the previous year's Exploration History Award winner, creating a rotating leadership structure that ties past honorees into the ongoing governance of the prize.

The Húsavík Explorers Festival

The Leif Erikson Awards serve as the culminating event of the annual Húsavík Explorers Festival, a multi-day gathering that has become a fixture of Iceland's cultural calendar. The festival debuted in 2015, with events spread across both Húsavík and Reykjavík. By 2016, the format had crystallized into the structure it retains to this day. The program blends outdoor adventure with intellectual and artistic pursuits: short expeditions and outdoor activities centered around Húsavík, workshops designed for young explorers, talks delivered by seasoned explorers, live concerts, film screenings, and art exhibitions. This combination ensures the festival appeals to a broad audience while keeping the spirit of discovery at its core. The awards ceremony, as the festival's main and final event, provides a natural crescendo to several days of programming that celebrate exploration in its many dimensions.

A Roster of Presenters Across the Years

The ceremonial presentation of the Leif Erikson Awards has featured a diverse roster of hosts over the years. The inaugural 2015 ceremony was announced by Icelandic President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson on 9 July at the Reykjavík University Auditorium. The following year, President Guðni Th. Jóhannesson took on the role, presenting the 2016 awards on 22 October at the Explorers Festival in Húsavík. After 2016, the hosting duties shifted to other figures: BBC World News anchor Babita Sharma presented in 2017, pilot and news anchor Amelia Rose Earhart in 2018, and Exploration Museum founder Orly Orlyson in both 2019 and 2020. The 2020 ceremony, held on 15 August, was delivered via live-stream from the festival in Húsavík, adapting to circumstances while maintaining the event's connection to its Icelandic home.

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