FAI 2026: New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
January 21-25, 2026
- FAI 2026
- Artists
- Attending
- partners
Lifetime Achievement Awards
The Elaine Weissman Lifetime Achievement Awards are presented each year during the annual International Folk Music Awards. The awards are presented to a living recipient, a memorial recipient, and an organization or recognized academic. FAI members can nominate a candidate here.
* denotes that a Lifetime Achievement Award recipient has passed.
2025 Lifetime Achievement Awards
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Living: </span>Indigo Girls</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Legacy: </span>Lesley Riddle</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Business/Academic: </span>Songlines</p>
2024 Lifetime Achievement Awards
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Living: </span>Tracy Chapman</p>
Watch speech by Abraham Alexander and a tribute performance from Joy Clark at the 2024 International Folk Music Awards:
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Legacy: </span>Victor Jara</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Business/Academic: </span>McCabe's Guitar Shop</p>
2023 Lifetime Achievement Awards
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Living: </span>Janis Ian</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Legacy: </span>Josh White</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Business/Academic: </span>Oh Boy Records</p>
2022 Lifetime Achievement Awards
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Living: </span>Flaco Jiménez</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Legacy: </span>Nanci Griffith</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Business/Academic: </span>Swallow Hill Music</p>
2021 Lifetime Achievement Awards
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Living: </span>Gordon Lightfoot</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Legacy: </span>Celia Cruz</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Business/Academic: </span>Putumayo</p>
2020 Lifetime Achievement Awards
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Living: </span>BeauSoleil</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Legacy: </span>Mahalia Jackson</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Business/Academic: </span>Preservation Hall, Jamie McKew</p>
2019 Lifetime Achievement Awards
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Living: </span>Joni Mitchell</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Legacy: </span>Leonard Cohen</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Business/Academic: </span>fRoots</p>
2018 Lifetime Achievement Awards
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Living: </span>Peter, Paul & Mary*; Ale Möller</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Legacy: </span>Richie Havens</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Business/Academic: </span>Elektra Records</p>
2017 Lifetime Achievement Awards
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Living: </span>David Amram</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Living: </span>Dónal Lunny</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Legacy: </span>Malvina Reynolds</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Business/Academic: </span>Helen Creighton</p>
2016 Lifetime Achievement Awards
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Living: </span>Ramblin’ Jack Elliott</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Legacy: </span>Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Business/Academic: </span>The English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS)</p>
2015 Lifetime Achievement Awards
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Living: </span>Peggy Seeger</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Legacy: </span>Bessie Jones</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Business/Academic: </span>Canadian Society for Traditional Music</p>
2014 Lifetime Achievement Awards
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Living: </span>Buddy MacMaster*</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Legacy: </span>Dock Boggs</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Business/Academic: </span>Smithsonian Folkways Recordings</p>
2013 Lifetime Achievement Awards
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Living: </span>The Weavers</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Legacy: </span>Mike Seeger</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Business/Academic: </span>Augusta Heritage Center</p>
2012 Lifetime Achievement Awards
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Living: </span>Harry Belafonte</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Legacy: </span>Robert Johnson</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Business/Academic: </span>The Highlander Center</p>
2011 Lifetime Achievement Awards
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Living: </span>Joan Baez</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Legacy: </span>Jimmie Rodgers</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Business/Academic: </span>Les Blank</p>
2010 Lifetime Achievement Awards
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Living: </span>Bob Dylan</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Legacy: </span>Elizabeth Cotten</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Business/Academic: </span>National Council for Traditional Arts</p>
2009 Lifetime Achievement Awards
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Living: </span>Guy & Candie Carawan*</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Legacy: </span>Phil Ochs</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Business/Academic: </span>Old Town School of Folk Music</p>
2008 Lifetime Achievement Awards
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Living: </span>Mavis Staples</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Legacy: </span>Tommy Jarrell</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Business/Academic: </span>Rounder Records</p>
2007 Lifetime Achievement Awards
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Living: </span>Earl Scruggs*</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Legacy: </span>Dave Van Ronk</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Business/Academic: </span>Manny Greenhill</p>
2006 Lifetime Achievement Awards
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Living: </span>Tom Paxton</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Legacy: </span>Clifton Chenier</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Business/Academic: </span>Kenneth Goldstein</p>
2005 Lifetime Achievement Awards
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Living: </span>Odetta*</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Legacy: </span>Stan Rogers</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Business/Academic: </span>The Newport Folk Festival</p>
2004 Lifetime Achievement Awards
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Living: </span>New Lost City Ramblers</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Legacy: </span>Mississippi John Hurt</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Business/Academic: </span>Bess Lomax Hawes</p>
2003 Lifetime Achievement Awards
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Living: </span>Ralph Stanley*</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Legacy: </span>Reverend Gary Davis</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Business/Academic: </span>SingOut!</p>
2002 Lifetime Achievement Awards
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Living: </span>Hazel Dickens*</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Legacy: </span>Bill Monroe</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Business/Academic: </span>Harold Leventhal</p>
2001 Lifetime Achievement Awards
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Living: </span>Lydia Mendoza*</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Legacy: </span>Paul Robeson</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Business/Academic: </span>Ralph Rinzler</p>
2000 Lifetime Achievement Awards
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Living: </span>Doc Watson*</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Legacy: </span>Dewey Balfa</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Business/Academic: </span>Edith Fowke</p>
1999 Lifetime Achievement Awards
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Living: </span>Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Legacy: </span>The Carter Family</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Business/Academic: </span>Anne and Frank Warner</p>
1998 Lifetime Achievement Awards
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Living: </span>Jean Ritchie*</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Legacy: </span>Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Business/Academic: </span>American Folklife Center</p>
1997 Lifetime Achievement Awards
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Living: </span>Bruce “Utah” Phillips*</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Business/Academic: </span>Arhoolie Records (Chris Strachwitz)</p>
1996 Lifetime Achievement Awards
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Legacy: </span>Woody Guthrie</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Business/Academic: </span>Moses Moe Asch*</p>
1995 Lifetime Achievement Awards
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Living: </span>Pete Seeger</p>
<p class="heading-style-h3"><span style="font-weight:500;">Business/Academic: </span>Alan Lomax</p>
