BOSTON, Oct 26 (Reuter) - A Tibetan nun, a Rwandan of Tutsi ethnicity, a Mexican lawyer and an American environmental activist were named on Thursday as winners of the Reebok Human Rights Award for their efforts to promote greater rights and freedom in their countries.

The annual award, created by Reebok International Ltd., the athletic shoemaker based in Stoughton, Massachusetts, is given to people 30 years old or younger who have struggled against great odds to overcome human rights abuses.

Among this year's winners is American Angela Elizabeth Brown, 30, for fighting toxic waste dumping and "environmental injustices" in the southern United States and Rwandanan Richard Nsanzaganwa, 30, for working to bring justice to the victims of the 1994 genocide in his country.

Also honoured were Miguel Angel de Los Santos Cruz, 30, a Mexican attorney in Chiapas who championed the cause of indigenous people subjected to rights abuses; and Phunstok Nyidron, 27, a Tibetan Buddhist nun who is serving a 17-year prison sentence for opposition to Chinese rule of her homeland.

"I proudly join Reebok in celebrating the vision and tenacity of the recipients of this year's award," former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, a member the awards advisory board, said in a statement. "These young leaders, who are willing to take great personal risks to create new possibilities for human justice, hold the key to a better future for people around the world."

The Reebok award, which was created in 1988, gives $25,000 to any human rights organisation designated by the recipients.

Iqbal Masih, a 12-year-old Pakistani who won the 1994 award for highlighting the horrors of child labour in his homeland, was shot dead last April, sparking an international outcry.