2018 Winners & Finalists

Maya Angelou Lifetime Achievement Award Honoree

 S. Monique Smith

After spending nearly 32 years on earth, surviving a childhood of severe abuse, and being blessed with four children; in 1996 Symbolie Monique Smith learned that she did not exist.

Undeniably the face of missing children everywhere, Symbolie Monique Smith “Known As Monique” is currently listed in both the national NamUs Registry and the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children as a living, unidentified person given the details of her presumed abduction and inability to unearth her true identity.

Today, Monique is the author of I Am The Ancestor: Before I Die, I Must Share My Story and the founder of the Known As Monique Foundation, Inc. (KAM), a non-profit organization recognized as the community go-to resource for people to get advocacy, education, updates and the latest news on reported missing persons, child abduction and human trafficking in the Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia areas. She works tirelessly every day to reduce the number of missing, exploited and endangered children everywhere; giving them a voice and providing families with hope; that their loved ones might still be alive–just like her.