Right Livelihood Award

Right Livelihood Award
Awarded for	"practical and exemplary solutions to the most urgent challenges facing the world today"
Country	Sweden
Presented by	Right Livelihood Award Foundation
First awarded	1980
Official website	rightlivelihood.org

The award ceremony in the Riksdag of Sweden in 2009

The 2009 award is presented to David Suzuki by Jakob von Uexkull (right) and European Commissioner Margot Wallström (left)

The Right Livelihood Award, also referred to as the "Alternative Nobel Prize",^{[1][2][3][4][5]} is a prestigious^[1] international award to honour those "working on practical and exemplary solutions to the most urgent challenges facing the world today". The prize was established in 1980 by German-Swedish philanthropist Jakob von Uexkull, and is presented annually in early December.^[6] An international jury, invited by the five regular Right Livelihood Award board members, decides the awards in such fields as environmental protection, human rights, sustainable development, health, education, and peace.^[7] The prize money is shared among the winners, usually numbering four, and is EUR 200,000.^[8] Very often one of the four laureates receives an honorary award, which means that the other three share the prize money.^[7]

It is not a Nobel prize (i.e., a prize created by Alfred Nobel). It does not have any organizational ties to the awarding institutions of the Nobel Prize or the Nobel Foundation.

It is often popularly associated with the Nobel prizes, being awarded in the Riksdag of Sweden the day before the Nobel prizes and the economics prize are also awarded in Stockholm, and being understood as a critique of the traditional Nobel prizes.^[5] The establishment of the award followed a failed attempt to have the Nobel Foundation create new prizes in the areas of environmental protection, sustainable development and human rights. The prize has been awarded to a diverse group of people and organisations, including Wangari Maathai, Astrid Lindgren, Bianca Jagger, Mordechai Vanunu, Leopold Kohr, Arna Mer-Khamis, Petra Kelly, Survival International, Amy Goodman and Memorial.

Ceremony

Since 1985, the ceremony has taken place in the Stockholm's old Parliament building, in the days before the traditional Nobel prizes are awarded in the same city. A group of Swedish Parliamentarians from different parties host the ceremony, in 2009 European Commissioner Margot Wallström co-hosted the ceremony.

Nature of the award

Some media refer to the prize as the Alternative Nobel Prize,.^[7] The prize is frequently understood as a critique of the traditional Nobel prizes.^[5]

The prize differs significantly from the Nobel Prizes:

• It is not a fulfillment of Alfred Nobel's bequest and thus not one of Nobel's own prizes
• It has an open nomination process (anyone can nominate anyone else, except close relatives or their own organizations);^[9]
• It is not limited to specific categories.^[8]
• Prize money is considerably lower than the one of the Nobel Prize. Currently it is 200,000 € compared to about 1,000,000 € for a Nobel Prize.
• The funds for the prizes are continually acquired by donations, while the Nobel Prizes come from the revenue of Alfred Nobel's fortune. The economics prize is financed by the Sveriges Riksbank.

History

The 1994 award given to Dr. Sudarshan photographed in BR Hills

Jakob von Uexküll sold his valuable stamp collection to create a prize. He made one million US-dollars which provided the initial funding of the award. Before establishing the award in 1980, von Uexkull had tried to interest the Nobel Foundation in a new prize to be awarded together with the Nobel Prizes. He suggested the establishment of two new prizes, one for ecology and one for development.^[10] Like the Economics Prize, this would have been possible by an amendment to the Nobel Foundation statutes and funding of the prize amount completely separate from Nobel's fortune. The Nobel Prize amount was 880,000 Swedish kronor at that time,^[11] which corresponded to 195,000 US dollars.^[12] However, as a result of the debate that followed the establishment of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (first awarded in 1969), the Nobel Foundation had decided not to associate the Nobel Prize with any additional awards, so von Uexküll's proposal was rejected.^[13]

The award states that, in the 21st century, the "greatest benefit to mankind" may be found in different fields than in the traditional sciences or in strict categories: the vast majority of award winners work for grassroots non-governmental organisations in their countries. The foundation understands its awards as a complement to the Nobel Prizes.^[14]

Since 1980, the foundation has presented, as of 2010, awards to 141 individuals and organisations from 59 countries.^[15] Its purpose is both to bestow prizes and to publicize the work of its recipients' local solutions to problems that also exist worldwide.^[16]

Laureates

See also

• Right livelihood
• Schock Prize
• Polar Music Prize
• Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award
• List of prizes, medals, and awards

References

Bibliography

• Pathiravitana, S. (2007-11-08). A Great Son of Lanka. Sri Lanka Daily News, 8 November 2007. A history of the award. Retrieved on 2008-06-03 from http://www.dailynews.lk/2007/11/08/fea01.asp.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Right Livelihood Award.

• Official website
• Complete list of recipients with descriptions
• Jakob von Uexkull – Founder
• Right Livelihood Laureates Discuss Their Battles for Social Justice – video report by Democracy Now!