The Burke Award is the highest honor bestowed by Burke and its board of the directors. It is presented to individuals or groups who have demonstrated strength in overcoming a disability, those whose efforts have contributed to helping people with disability gain independence, those who have made significant contributions to science that led to a better understanding of physical disability or for those who have made contributions to the development of rehabilitation.

Lauren Manning is a 9/11 survivor who completed her rehabilitation at Burke after suffering catastrophic burns on more than 80 percent of her body during the Sept. 11 attacks. The story of her strength and battle for survival has been chronicled in the media and in her New York Times bestselling memoir, Unmeasured Strength, published in September 2011. Manning was chosen as one of Glamour Magazine's Women of the Year for 2002. She was selected as one of 15 Extraordinary Women of 2003 by Biography Magazine, and CNN named her one of the most intriguing newsmakers of the past 25 years.