Konex Award
| Konex Awards Premios Konex | |
|---|---|
| Awarded for | Excellence in various cultural disciplines |
| Country | Argentina |
| Presented by | Konex Foundation |
| First awarded | November 6, 1980 |
| Official website | Official website |
Konex Foundation Awards, or simply Konex Awards, are cultural awards from the Konex Foundation to Argentine cultural personalities.
History of the Konex Foundation
Konex Awards are granted by Konex Foundation, created in 1980 in Argentina. The purposes of the Foundation is to promote; stimulate; support, and/or participate in any possible manner in cultural, educational, intellectual, artistic, social, philanthropic, scientific or sports initiatives, works and enterprises, in their most relevant aspects. To achieve its goals, the Foundation instituted the Konex Awards to be granted to personalities and institutions standing out for his, her or its achievements in any of the fields before mentioned.
Purpose
The Konex Awards were instituted in 1980 to be annually granted to sow for the future so that the most distinguished contemporary personalities and institutions in every field which compose the cultural spectrum of the nation will be an example to our youths.
Activities receiving awards in 10-year cycles
Every year it offers those awards in different activities in the nation, in cycles that repeat themselves every ten years. Initially and in the ten-year span from 1980 to 1989, such personalities received awards for their life-time accomplishments. As from 1990 to 1999 the accomplishments to receive awards represented the last ten years of activity. From the year 2000 through 2009 such cycle is repeated, and it will be repeated indefinitely.
- 1980 1990 2000 2010 Sports
- 1981 1991 2001 2011 Entertainment
- 1982 1992 2002 2012 Visual Arts
- 1983 1993 2003 2013 Science and Technology
- 1984 1994 2004 2014 Literature
- 1985 1995 2005 2015 Popular Music
- 1986 1996 2006 2016 Humanities
- 1987 1997 2007 2017 Communication, Journalism
- 1988 1998 2008 2018 Institutions, Community, Entreprise
- 1989 1999 2009 2019 Classical Music
Grand Jury of 20 members
Every year a Grand Jury including 20 members is appointed. The members are specialists in the specific subjects receiving the award, and they appoint their own president. The members of the Jury exclude themselves from being chosen for a Konex Award; a gesture that the Foundation emphasizes and thanks very specially.
20 disciplines of an activity
Each year the activity receiving a prize is classified by the Grand Jury into 20 disciplines.
Merit Diplomas: 100 awards
The Grand Jury selects the five personalities or institutions that show the most remarkable accomplishments in each of the 20 chosen disciplines. The 100 personalities or institutions receive their Konex Award - Merit Diploma in a public ceremony.
Platinum Konex: 20 awards
Then the Grand Jury selects one figure out of the five awarded. That is how 20 personalities or institutions receive the Platinum Konex in a special ceremony.
Diamond Konex: 1 award
The Grand Jury also selects the most outstanding personality or institution among the 20 Platinum Konex; who is considered the most relevant figure of the activity and receives the Diamond Konex in the same ceremony as the 20 Platinum Konex.
Honour Konex: 1 award
Honour Konex is granted to an outstanding deceased personality.
Special Mentions in addition to the disciplines
The Grand Jury has the power to grant Special Mentions to those figures standing out for their achievements and are considered worthy of the award, though they do not specifically fit within given disciplines.
Mercosur Konex
Since 2002 the Grand Jury has the authority to grant the Mercosur Konex Awards to the most relevant living personalities of the countries linked to Mercosur.
Granting the awards: 2 ceremonies
The 100 Merit Diplomas are handed over in a first ceremony, and the other awards, namely the Diamond Konex, the 20 Platinum Konex, the Honour Konex, the Mercosur Konex and the Special Mentions, are presented in a final ceremony.
Diplomas and trophies
The 100 awarded are granted a diploma called Merit Diploma. The 20 Platinum Konex, the Special Mentions, the Honour Konex, the Mercosur Konex and the Diamond Konex are granted a distinctive symbol called Konex Trophy.
Konex Decoration
Likewise, the Konex Foundation has the authority to grant the Konex Decoration to honor personalities who have brilliant careers around the world, for their contribution to universal culture.
Thus far, two Konex Decorations have been granted: Yehudi Menuhin in 1994 and Mstislav Rostropovich in 2002.