In Sweden, the Right Livelihood Awards have been announced for five recipients, including National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden. The head of the Right Livelihood Award Foundation, Ole von Uexküll, said Snowden was honored for exposing illegality by his own government.

Ole von Uexküll: “We decided on five laureates this year, and they all live up to the idea behind the award to offer real, courageous, practical solutions to global challenges. And Snowden is living up to this ideal in the same way that earlier laureates have when it comes to criticizing his own government as this government is breaking the law.”

Snowden’s prize will go to toward his legal fund. The other recipients are Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian newspaper; Pakistani human rights activist Asma Jahangir; Basil Fernando of the Asian Human Rights Commission in Hong Kong; and the American environmentalist Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org and a lead organizer behind this week’s People’s Climate March in New York City. Handed out annually, the Right Livelihood Awards are widely known as the “alternative Nobel Prize.” The award ceremony will be held in early December.