Erasmus Prize

Erasmus Prize
Awarded for	Notable contributions to European culture, society, or social science
Country	Netherlands
Presented by	Praemium Erasmianum Foundation
Reward(s)	€150,000[1]
First awarded	1958
Last awarded	Annual award[1]
Official website	www.erasmusprijs.org

The Erasmus Prize is an annual prize awarded by the board of the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation to individuals or institutions that have made exceptional contributions to culture, society, or social science in Europe and the rest of the world.^[1] It is one of Europe's most distinguished recognitions.^[2] The prize is named after Desiderius Erasmus, the Dutch Renaissance humanist.

Prize and adornment

As of 2015, the prize consists of €150,000^[1] and an adornment that was designed by Bruno Ninaber van Eyben in 1995. The adornment is a ribbon folded in the style of a harmonica, with ends made of titanium plates. The ribbon bears a text in the handwriting of Erasmus taken from a letter to Jean Carondelet written on 5 January 1523. The text reads "variae sunt ingeniorum dotes multae seculorum varietates sunt. quod quisque potest in medium proferat nec alteri quisquam invideat qui pro sua virili suoque modo conatur publicis studiis utilitatis aliquid adiungere.", which translates to "diverse are the gifts of men of genius and many are the different kinds of ages. let each one reveal the scope of his competence and let no one be envious of another who in keeping with his own ability and style tries to make a useful contribution to the education of all."^[3]

Ceremony

The award ceremony typically takes place at the Royal Palace of Amsterdam, where the prize is presented by the patron of the Foundation (King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands as of 2015). A wide range of academic and cultural activities are organised around the Erasmus Prize award ceremony, in cooperation with other academic and cultural organisations. These have included lectures, conferences, workshops, exhibitions, performances of dance, music and theatre, and other educational activities. An essay on the topic of the laureate and their work is also published.^[4]

The prize was first awarded in 1958. As of 2015 it has been awarded a total of 73 times in 53 years.^[1][5] The area in which the Erasmus prize will be awarded is decided upon in advance by the Foundation's board. An advisory committee then consults with Dutch and foreign experts before proposing a laureate; the final choice of the laureate is then made by the Foundation's board.^[4]

Young researchers

The Erasmus prize is not intended to stimulate young researchers.^[4] However, the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation has awarded from 1988 yearly "studyprizes" for exceptionally high quality PHD studies on the field of humanities or social sciences.

Prize winners

Photo	Year	Winner	Notes	References
	1958	The People of Austria	Cultural heritage. Awarded at the University of Milan. Prize funds were granted to Austrians studying in Europe; foreign students studying in Austria; and excavations at Ephesus.	[5][6]
	1959	Robert Schuman		[5]
	1959	Karl Jaspers		[5]
	1960	Marc Chagall		[5]
	1960	Oskar Kokoschka		[5]
	1962	Romano Guardini		[5]
	1963	Martin Buber		[5]
	1964	Union Académique Internationale		[5]
	1965	Charles Chaplin, Ingmar Bergman		[5]
	1966	Herbert Read, René Huyghe		[5]
	1967	Jan Tinbergen		[5]
	1968	Henry Moore		[5]
	1969	Gabriel Marcel, Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker		[5]
	1970	Hans Scharoun		[5]
	1971	Olivier Messiaen		[5]
	1972	Jean Piaget		[5]
	1973	Claude Lévi-Strauss		[5]
	1974	Ninette de Valois, Maurice Béjart		[5]
	1975	Ernst Gombrich, Willem Sandberg		[5]
	1976	Amnesty International, René David		[5]
	1977	Werner Kaegi, Jean Monnet		[5]
	1978	Puppet Theatre/Theme puppetry: La Marionettistica of the Napoli brothers Ţăndărică of Margareta Niculescu Théatre du Papier of Yves Joly Bread and Puppet of Peter Schumann		[5]
	1979	Die Zeit, Neue Zürcher Zeitung		[5]
	1980	Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Gustav Leonhardt		[5]
	1981	Jean Prouvé		[5]
	1982	Edward Schillebeeckx		[5]
	1983	Raymond Aron, Isaiah Berlin, Leszek Kołakowski, Marguerite Yourcenar		[5]
	1984	Massimo Pallottino		[5]
	1985	Paul Delouvrier		[5]
	1986	Václav Havel		[5]
	1987	Alexander King		[5]
	1988	Jacques Ledoux		[5]
	1989	International Commission of Jurists		[5]
	1990	Sir Grahame Clark		[5]
	1991	Bernard Haitink		[5]
	1992	General Archive of the Indies		[5]
	1992	Simon Wiesenthal		[5]
	1993	Peter Stein		[5]
	1994	Sigmar Polke		[5]
	1995	Renzo Piano		[5]
	1996	William Hardy McNeill		[5]
	1997	Jacques Delors		[5]
	1998	Mauricio Kagel, Peter Sellars		[5]
	1999	Mary Robinson		[5]
	2000	Hans van Manen		[5]
	2001	Claudio Magris, Adam Michnik		[5]
	2002	Bernd and Hilla Becher		[5]
	2003	Alan Davidson		[5]
	2004	Abdolkarim Soroush, Sadik Al-Azm and Fatema Mernissi		[5]
	2005	Simon Schaffer and Steven Shapin		[5]
	2006	Pierre Bernard		[5]
	2007	Péter Forgács		[5]
	2008	Ian Buruma		[5]
	2009	Antonio Cassese, Benjamin B. Ferencz		[5]
	2010	José Antonio Abreu		[5]
	2011	Joan Busquets		[5]
	2012	Daniel Dennett		[5]
	2013	Jürgen Habermas		[5]
	2014	Frie Leysen	Theme of "Theatre, audience and society"	[5][7]
	2015	Wikipedia community	For "[promoting] the dissemination of knowledge through a comprehensive and universally accessible encyclopaedia. To achieve that, the initiators of Wikipedia have designed a new and effective democratic platform. The prize specifically recognises Wikipedia as a community — a shared project that involves tens of thousands of volunteers around the world."	[1][2]
	2016	A. S. Byatt	For inspiring contribution to ‘life writing’	[8][9]

References

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