Heroes Ball

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The rhythm of life at TIME is predictable yet full of the unexpected. Our magazine goes to press weekly, whether the previous seven days have witnessed catastrophic news or a more routine progression of world events. We immerse ourselves in all of the stories we cover, becoming experts and authorities on the people and places we report on and write about each week. Then those articles are published, Monday comes, new deadlines loom and we turn our attention to our next assignments. We read and respond to feedback from our readers, but we rarely have the opportunity to hear first-hand about the impact our work has had on those we cover.

Last Wednesday, at a ceremony for TIME's 2003 European Heroes (TIME, April 28) at London's Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, we were able to do just that. David Beckham was meeting with Nelson Mandela in South Africa and couldn't make the bash, but 15 of the 36 individuals we singled out in our Heroes Special Issue were on hand to accept their awards and to tell us what TIME's accolade has meant to them and the causes they've worked so tirelessly to promote.

The group, which included Irish rock star Bono, German film legend Iris Berben, Polish homeless advocates Barbara and Tomasz Sadowski and South African AIDS activist Zackie Achmat, typified the diversity and eclecticism we strive to bring to the magazine each week. Some of our Heroes are famous, most are not. All believe passionately in the causes they have embraced. And what we heard from them about the impact TIME's recognition has had was inspiring and humbling. Yannis Boutaris, who campaigns on behalf of maltreated bears tortured into dancing for entertainment, flew in from Athens for the event. Boutaris was Greece's most famous vintner before the plight of his country's bears spurred him to act, but he says that being singled out by TIME has made a world of difference in terms of recognition. "Every door in Greece is now open to me," he says.

The Sadowskis told us that the attention generated in Poland by TIME's coverage helped facilitate the passage of a new law designed to create work opportunities for the long-term unemployed and homeless. The legislation means that NGOs like Barka, the foundation the Sadowskis founded in 1989, will play a central role in providing not just food and shelter, but also offering workshops and educational opportunities. "It was very difficult to convince the authorities that NGOs are important partners," Barbara Sadowski says. But after their selection as TIME heroes, the Sadowskis' efforts to persuade the government to include NGOs in their legislative plans became easier. "They recognized this was an important program," says Barbara Sadowski.

The news of his TIME honor also boosted the cause of Icelander Asbjorn Bjorgvinsson, who quit his job as an engineer six years ago to devote himself to the conservation and protection of whales. With peak whale-watching season about to begin in Iceland and the country considering whether to resume whaling, "this award came at a crucial time," Bjorgvinsson says. The Heroes Special Issue of TIME sold out in his hometown of Husavik in hours and all the major media outlets contacted him for features.

Hanna and Magdalena Graaf, who channeled their status as Swedish pop sensations into helping improve the lives of slum children in India, also reported a direct impact from the Heroes award. As a result, "several corporations have already contacted us about sponsorship," said Linda Bergling, the Graaf sisters' mother. At the Heroes event, the Graafs handed out fliers that read: "We want to give abandoned children a future. Do you want to help us?"

Even Bono, whose TIME Hero award will join a shelfful of music industry prizes, was moved by the power of being singled out by TIME for his activism. "TIME Magazine is the village pump," he said. "It's where people go to find out what's going on in the world." For Martin Fisher, co-founder of Appro-TEC, which creates low tech hardware to help farmers in the developing world move beyond subsistence farming, TIME's recognition could have a crucial direct effect. Appro-TEC's work is financed by donations and potential donors who've read about Appro-TEC's work are more receptive to being asked for money.

We who work at TIME weren't the only ones awed to be in the company of so many amazing individuals. One of the most enjoyable aspects of an evening full of emotional high points was watching the pairing off of different heroes, in sometimes unlikely combinations. Nebahat Akkoc, a Kurdish Turk, was driven to activism by her husband's murder and her subsequent torture at the hands of the Turkish security forces. She won a landmark verdict against the Turkish government at the European Court of Human Rights and became a campaigner for women's rights in her home region of southeast Anatolia. TIME's coverage of her cause has helped focus Turkish media attention on the issue of women's rights in the region. When asked whom she wanted to meet on Wednesday, she named Irish children's activist Christina Noble, who works with children in Vietnam and Mongolia. Noble, it turns out, is expanding her work into Afghanistan and possibly Turkey, and will now be bunking with Akkoc when she visits the region. Noble, for her part, is a long-time fan of fellow Dubliner Bono and beamed with delight at having her picture taken with him. "Thanks for the kiss," she said. "It made my night."

Moments like those, as the TIME's heroes met and mingled with us and each other, were among the many unexpected highlights of Wednesday's event.