Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors is the winner of the 2023 J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award, the Professional Basketball Writers Association and the NBA announced on Thursday. The award, which is determined by a vote of PBWA members, recognizes Curry's dedication to community service, and specifically "his work promoting youth literacy, fitness and nutrition, as well as his commitment to fostering gender equity in sports," per the press release.
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The Stephen & Ayesha Curry's Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation has helped thousands of children in Oakland, Calif., building playgrounds across the city, promoting literacy and distributing meals and produce. The foundation hosted more than 1,000 children from various community organizations at an Oakland Athletics game last summer, in an event that promoted movement, exercise and literacy. In December, the foundation hosted more than 500 Oakland families as part of the 10th annual Christmas with the Currys. The foundation, which provides weekly meals throughout the city, also recently unveiled a new schoolyard at Global Family Elementary.
While visiting the White House to celebrate the Warriors' 2022 championship, Curry used his platform to speak on the importance of equality in sports, another cause that he has championed both individually and through his corporate partnerships. The Underrated Tour, a collaboration between Curry and Under Armour, provides a showcase for high school golfers from traditionally overlooked communities.
Curry always makes time for fans and community groups over the course of the season. In March, he met in Oklahoma City with the Wichita West girls basketball team – which had to forfeit its season due to lack of players yet continued to practice every day – to call attention to and honor its persistence in the face of adversity.
NBA teams submitted nominees for the award, and a committee of PBWA members picked the four finalists: Curry, Grant Williams of the Boston Celtics, Wenyen Gabriel of the Los Angeles Lakers and Paul George of the Los Angeles Clippers. Active PBWA members (i.e. writers and editors who regularly cover the league) then voted for the winner.
Past winners include Malcolm Brogdon (2020), Damian Lillard (2019), J.J. Barea (2018), LeBron James (2017), Wayne Ellington (2016) and Joakim Noah (2015). The award, which is named after the NBA's second commissioner, has been around since 1975 -- Wes Unseld was the inaugural winner -- but, due to the pandemic, no winner was named in 2021 or 2022.
