World Food Prize
The Iowa SHARES Award
The World Food Prize Foundation established the Robert D. Ray Iowa SHARES Humanitarian Award in 2013 to honor the former Iowa Governor on his 85th birthday. The award recognizes an Iowan who has provided significant leadership in confronting hunger and alleviating human suffering either at home or abroad, much as Governor Ray did on behalf of Asian refugees during his time in office.
The award was named after the Iowa SHARES campaign, which Governor Ray created in 1979 in order to send desperately needed food, medicine, Iowa doctors and nurses, to assist suffering and dying refugees from Cambodia. Iowa S.H.A.R.E.S. stands for Iowa Sends Help to Aid Refugees and End Starvation.
Governor Ray’s Iowa SHARES program is memorialized in the featured painting of a Cambodian woman holding her child. It is based on a photograph taken by Governor Ray in the Sa Kaew Refugee Camp on the Thai-Cambodian border in October 1979. There, the Governor and Ambassador Kenneth Quinn observed the incredible suffering of the more than 30,000 Cambodians who had just escaped from the rule of the Khmer Rouge. The refugees were dying at the rate of 50 to 100 a day due to the starvation, malnutrition and barbaric living conditions they had endured.
Also included in the painting are smaller-scale depictions of several other events that transpired during this period and on which then Governor Ray provided extraordinary political leadership, including providing a home in Iowa to ethnic Tai Dam refugees and rescuing the Vietnamese “Boat People.” Governor Ray was the first governing leader in the world to offer a home to these refugees who were drowning at sea because no country in the world would accept them.
This piece by Iowa artist Rose Frantzen hangs in the Iowa Gallery in the Norman E. Borlaug Hall of Laureates.
Award Criteria
Nominees should have a strong connection to Iowa and will be evaluated based on their impact, leadership, persistence and humanitarian service that confronts hunger at home or abroad—qualities that reflect those demonstrated by Governor Robert D. Ray in his work on humanitarian assistance and service.
Nominees must be living and in sufficient health to attend and provide an acceptance speech at the Iowa Hunger Summit.
Nominate An Inspiring Iowan
Nominators should submit basic information about their nominee and prepare statements of work and achievement that speak to the nominee’s strengths and humanitarian contributions.
Nominations open: February 10, 2026
Nominations close: April 15, 2026
Recognition at Iowa Hunger Summit: July 22, 2026
Iowa SHARES Media Kit
Access the Iowa SHARES Award Promotional Toolkit to find downloadable media assets, promotional graphics, and communication resources supporting awareness of soil health, regenerative agriculture, and sustainable food systems. Designed for partners, media professionals, and community organizations, the toolkit helps amplify the impact of the Iowa SHARES Award and its mission.
Explore resources that highlight innovation in agriculture and the leaders advancing solutions for global food security and environmental sustainability.
Iowa SHARES Award Recipients
Iowa Hunger Summit
The Iowa Hunger Summit convenes experts and community leaders to explore solutions in food security, soil health, and sustainable agriculture. As part of the Iowa SHARES initiative, the Summit emphasizes the importance of collaboration in addressing hunger and building resilient food systems.