Editing Ebertfest (section)

=== Awards ===
As a non-competitive film festival,<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Festival & market listings |newspaper=Variety |location=Los Angeles, California |date=August 26, 2002 |page=Special supplement: Film Fest Guide, p. 37}}</ref><ref name="show" /> Ebertfest does not have jury or audience awards. But beginning with the sixth festival in 2004, all invited guests have been given an award originally referred to by Ebert as the Order of the Silver Thumb,<ref name="champions" /> but subsequently known as the Golden Thumb Award.<ref>{{cite news |last=Merli |first=Melissa |date=March 16, 2005 |title=The stars come out at Ebertfest |url=http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2005-03-16/stars-come-out-ebertfest.html |newspaper=News-Gazette |location=Champaign, Illinois |access-date=1 June 2016}}</ref> The Golden Thumb trophy is a casting of Roger Ebert's [[Thumbs signal|thumb in the up position]], made by the [[R.S. Owens & Company]], which is the same business that makes the Oscar statuette.<ref name="thumb" />

The first Roger Ebert Humanitarian Award was presented in 2016 to co-directors Andrew Young and Stephen Apkon for their documentary film ''[[Disturbing the Peace (2016 film)|Disturbing the Peace]]''.<ref>{{cite news |last=Merli |first=Melissa |date=April 16, 2016 |title=Middle East conflict gives rise to work, doc of peace |url=http://www.news-gazette.com/arts-entertainment/local/2016-04-16/middle-east-conflict-gives-rise-work-doc-peace.html |newspaper=News-Gazette |location=Champaign, Illinois |access-date=1 June 2016}}</ref> The film focuses on the work of [[Combatants for Peace]], a group of former Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters who put down their weapons and began working together for peace in the region.

In 2017, the second Ebert Humanitarian Award was presented to [[Norman Lear]] for "a lifetime of empathy".<ref>{{cite news |last=Merli |first=Melissa |date=April 23, 2017 |title=Ebertfest: Television titan Norman Lear wows audience |url=http://www.news-gazette.com/arts-entertainment/local/2017-04-23/ebertfest-television-titan-norman-lear-wows-audience.html |newspaper=News-Gazette |location=Champaign, Illinois |access-date=28 April 2017}}</ref> Lear was the first person to receive the award, because the 2016 award was given to the film ''Disturbing the Peace''. Lear was a special guest at the 2017 festival, to screen the documentary about his life.

In 2019, the third Ebert Humanitarian Award was presented to [[Morgan Neville]] for his film ''[[Won't You Be My Neighbor? (film)|Won't You Be My Neighbor?]]''.<ref name="Pieper">{{cite news |last=Pieper |first=Frank |date=April 14, 2019 |title=Ebertfest 2019 Day 4: Everyone was quite neighborly |url=http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2019-04-14/ebertfest-2019-day-4-everyone-was-quite-neighborly.html |work=News-Gazette |location=Champaign, Illinois |access-date=24 April 2019}}</ref> That same year, Chaz Ebert presented the first-ever Ebertfest Icon Award to Rita Coburn Whack for the documentary film she co-directed about poet and civil rights activist [[Maya Angelou]], titled ''Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise''.<ref name="Pieper2">{{cite news |last=Pieper |first=Frank |date=April 15, 2019 |title=Ebertfest 2019 Finale: Our Favorite Moments |url=http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2019-04-15/ebertfest-2019-finale-our-favorite-moments.html |work=News-Gazette |location=Champaign, Illinois |access-date=24 April 2019}}</ref>