Defending Democracy Award

The League of Women Voters of Iowa is awarding Rekha Basu the 2025 Defending Democracy Award. The Award is given to an individual/organization who exemplifies leadership in our state.

Rekha Basu has worked as a full-time reporter, editorial writer and columnist at newspapers in New York, Florida and Iowa. For 30 years, her syndicated columns on national and local issues related to race, gender, immigration and social justice were staples in The Des Moines Register (USA Today Network), where her work still appears on occasion. She writes weekly at basurekha.substack.com. Rekha Basu has been generous with her skills as a journalist to act as a champion for the unheard and unseen around us.

The guest speaker will be Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey is an author, performer and producer from Iowa City. Rainey is the author of “Look, Black Boy” and “Heart Notes.” He has been featured on Iowa PBS. In 2024, Nik Heftman and The Seven Times production company created a documentary about Caleb titled, “The Negro Artist.” Rekha Basu interviewed Caleb and filmmaker Nik Hartman and wrote “…new film introduces an Iowa treasure who tells tough truths through poems. He’s soft spoken, but Iowa City Spoken word poet Caleb Rainey’s words are profound and can be jolting.”

Host or Publisher League of Women Voters of Iowa