Terre des hommes wins CHF1 million humanitarian award
The prestigious Balzan prize-winners have been announced for 2018, with the Swiss Terre des hommes foundation winning a special award for humanity, peace, and fraternity among peoples.
The awards, administered by the Milan- and Zurich-based Balzan Prize FoundationExternal link, offer prizes in the arts, sciences, and humanitarian fields in memory of Eugenio Balzan – the anti-fascist Italian journalist exiled in Switzerland during the Second World War.
Along with the annual prizes, a special award for humanity, peace and fraternity is also offered every few years: this year, the winner was Swiss-based Terre des hommesExternal link (Tdh) group.
Tdh, which works to promote and defend children’s rights, was awarded the CHF1 million ($1,027,700) prize notably for a project undertaken in the Ségou region of Mali, where it trains locals to care for new-born babies and their mothers.
Previous winners of the periodically-awarded humanitarian prize include Mother Theresa and French homeless advocate Abbé Pierre.
The other annual prizes, each with a winning packet of CHF750,000 (part of which must be dedicated to future research projects) were awarded to four researchers: Marilyn Strathern (social anthropology); Jürgen Osterhammel (world history); Detlef Lohse (fluid dynamics); and Eva Kondorsi (chemical ecology).
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