Erasmus Prize

{{Infobox award

| awarded_for = Notable contributions to European culture, society, or social science

| sponsor =

| date =

| location =

| country = Netherlands

| reward = €150,000

| year = 1958

| year2 = Annual award

| holder =

}}

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. It is one of Europe's most distinguished recognitions. The prize is named after Desiderius Erasmus, the Dutch Renaissance humanist.

Prize and adornment

{{As of|2024}}, the prize consists of €150,000 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 as "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."

Ceremony

The award ceremony typically takes place at the Royal Palace of Amsterdam, where the prize is presented by the patron of the Foundation (His Majesty the King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands {{as of|2015|lc=y}}). 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.

The prize was first awarded in 1958. {{As of|2015}} it has been awarded a total of 73 times in 53 years.{{cite web|url=http://www.erasmusprijs.org/?lang=en&page=Erasmusprijs|title=Erasmus Prize|publisher=Praemium Erasmianum Foundation|access-date=24 January 2015|archive-date=3 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171203080121/http://www.erasmusprijs.org/?lang=en&page=Erasmusprijs|url-status=dead}} 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. In 2015, Wikipedia editors received the Erasmus Prize—under the theme 'Digital Culture'. According to the Foundation, Wikipedia: "has promoted the dissemination of knowledge through a comprehensive and universally acceptable encyclopedia available to everybody".{{Cite web |title=Erasmusprijswinnaars |url=https://erasmusprijs.org/prijswinnaars/wikipedia/ |access-date=2023-06-01 |website=Stichting Praemium Erasmianum |language=nl-NL}} Three young representatives of the Wikipedia Community received the Erasmus Prize, each of them represented new initiatives within Wikipedia.

Young researchers

The Erasmus prize is not intended to stimulate young researchers. However, the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation has awarded from 1988 yearly "Research Prizes" for exceptionally high quality PhD studies on the field of Law, Humanities, Social sciences.

Prize winners

class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" \|+
scope="col" class="unsortable" \| Photo !scope="col"\| Year !scope="col"\| Winner !scope="col"\| Notes
100px	1958 !scope="row"\| 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.
100px	1959 !scope="row"\| Robert Schuman \|
100px	1959 !scope="row"\| Karl Jaspers \|
100px	1960 !scope="row"\| Marc Chagall \|
100px	1960 !scope="row"\| Oskar Kokoschka \|
100px	1962 !scope="row"\| Romano Guardini \|
100px	1963 !scope="row"\| Martin Buber \|
100px	1964 !scope="row"\| Union Académique Internationale \|
100px 100px	1965 !scope="row"\| Sir Charles Chaplin, Ingmar Bergman \|
100px 100px	1966 !scope="row"\| Herbert Read, René Huyghe \|
100px	1967 !scope="row"\| Jan Tinbergen \|
100px	1968 !scope="row"\| Henry Moore \|
100px	1969 !scope="row"\| Gabriel Marcel, Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker \|
100px	1970 !scope="row"\| Hans Scharoun \|
100px	1971 !scope="row"\| Olivier Messiaen \|
100px	1972 !scope="row"\| Jean Piaget \|
100px	1973 !scope="row"\| Claude Lévi-Strauss \|
100px 100px	1974 !scope="row"\| Ninette de Valois, Maurice Béjart \|
100px 100px	1975 !scope="row"\| Ernst Gombrich, Willem Sandberg \|
100px	1976 !scope="row"\| Amnesty International, René David \|
100px 100px	1977 !scope="row"\| Werner Kaegi, Jean Monnet \|
100px	1978 !scope="row"\| Puppet Theatre/Theme puppetry: La Marionettistica of the Napoli brothers Ţăndărică of Margareta Niculescu Théâtre de papier of Yves Joly Bread and Puppet of Peter Schumann \|
100px	1979 !scope="row"\| Die Zeit, Neue Zürcher Zeitung \|
100px 100px	1980 !scope="row"\| Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Gustav Leonhardt \|
100px	1981 !scope="row"\| Jean Prouvé \|
100px	1982 !scope="row"\| Edward Schillebeeckx \|
100px 100px	1983 !scope="row"\| Raymond Aron, Isaiah Berlin, Leszek Kołakowski, Marguerite Yourcenar \|
100px	1984 !scope="row"\| Massimo Pallottino \|
100px	1985 !scope="row"\| Paul Delouvrier \|
100px	1986 !scope="row"\| Václav Havel \|
100px	1987 !scope="row"\| Alexander King \|
100px	1988 !scope="row"\| Jacques Ledoux \|
100px	1989 !scope="row"\| International Commission of Jurists \|
100px	1990 !scope="row"\| Grahame Clark \|
100px	1991 !scope="row"\| Bernard Haitink \|
100px	1992 !scope="row"\| General Archive of the Indies \|
100px	1992 !scope="row"\| Simon Wiesenthal \|
100px	1993 !scope="row"\| Peter Stein \|
100px	1994 !scope="row"\| Sigmar Polke \|
100px	1995 !scope="row"\| Renzo Piano \|
100px	1996 !scope="row"\| William Hardy McNeill \|
100px	1997 !scope="row"\| Jacques Delors \|
100px 100px	1998 !scope="row"\| Mauricio Kagel, Peter Sellars \|
100px	1999 !scope="row"\| Mary Robinson \|
100px	2000 !scope="row"\| Hans van Manen \|
100px 100px	2001 !scope="row"\| Claudio Magris, Adam Michnik \|
100px	2002 !scope="row"\| Bernd and Hilla Becher \|
100px	2003 !scope="row"\| Alan Davidson \|
100px	2004 !scope="row"\| Abdolkarim Soroush, Sadik Al-Azm and Fatema Mernissi \|
100px 100px	2005 !scope="row"\| Simon Schaffer and Steven Shapin \|
100px	2006 !scope="row"\| Pierre Bernard \|
100px	2007 !scope="row"\| Péter Forgács \|
100px	2008 !scope="row"\| Ian Buruma \|
100px 100px	2009 !scope="row"\| Antonio Cassese, Benjamin B. Ferencz \|
100px	2010 !scope="row"\| José Antonio Abreu \|
100px	2011 !scope="row"\| Joan Busquets \|
100px	2012 !scope="row"\| Daniel Dennett \|
100px	2013 !scope="row"\| Jürgen Habermas \|
100px	2014 !scope="row"\| Frie Leysen \| Theme of "Theatre, audience and society"
100px	2015 !scope="row"\| 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."
100px	2016 !scope="row"\| A. S. Byatt \| For inspiring contribution to 'life writing'
100px \|2017 !scope="row"\|Michèle Lamont{{Cite web\|url=http://www.erasmusprijs.org/Nieuws?mode=detail&item=Persbericht+Erasmusprijs+2017+toegekend+aan+Mich%C3%A8le+Lamont\|title=Nieuws :: Praemium Erasmianum\|website=erasmusprijs.org\|language=nl\|access-date=20 February 2017\|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180410021724/http://www.erasmusprijs.org/Nieuws?mode=detail&item=Persbericht+Erasmusprijs+2017+toegekend+aan+Mich%C3%A8le+Lamont\|archive-date=10 April 2018\|url-status=dead}} \|"For her devoted contribution to social science research into the relationship between knowledge, power and diversity"
100px \|2018 !scope="row"\|Barbara Ehrenreich[http://www.erasmusprijs.org/Nieuws?mode=detail&item=Press+release+2018+Erasmus+Prize+awarded+to+Barbara+Ehrenreich&lang=en Press release: 2018 Erasmus Prize awarded to Barbara Ehrenreich] (Retrieved 1 May 2018) \|For giving "a voice to groups in society that would otherwise remain unheard"
100px \|2019 !scope="row"\|John Adams[http://www.erasmusprijs.org/Nieuws?lang=en&mode=detail&item=Erasmus+Prize+2019+awarded+to+John+Adams Press release: 2019 Erasmus Prize awarded to John Adams] (Retrieved 21 February 2019) \|"Because he has created a new musical idiom by fusing elements from jazz, pop and classical music"
100px \|2021 !scope="row"\|Grayson Perry{{cite web \| title=Grayson Perry \| website=Praemium Erasmianum Foundation \| date=5 October 2020 \| url=https://erasmusprijs.org/en/laureates/grayson-perry/ \| access-date=13 October 2020}} \|"Perry has developed a unique visual language, demonstrating that art belongs to everybody and should not be an elitist affair."
100px \|2022 !scope="row"\|David Grossman{{cite web\|title=David Grossman\|url=https://erasmusprijs.org/en/laureates/david-grossman/\|website=Praemium Erasmianum Foundation\|access-date=April 18, 2022}} \|"He seeks to understand people from within, and to regard the other with love, across borders of war and history."
117x117px \|2023 !scope="row"\|Trevor Noah{{Cite web \|title=Erasmusprijswinnaars \|url=https://erasmusprijs.org/en/laureates/trevor-noah/ \|access-date=2023-03-24 \|website=Praemium Erasmianum Foundation \|language=en-US}} \|"... for his inspired contribution to the theme 'In Praise of Folly,' named after Erasmus’s most famous book, which is filled with humour, social criticism and political satire. With his sharp-minded, mocking yet inclusive political comedy, Noah, in the eyes of the jury, upholds the 'Erasmian Spirit.'"
113x113px \|2024 !scope="row"\|Amitav Ghosh \|"He receives the prize for his passionate contribution to the theme ‘imagining the unthinkable’, in which an unprecedented global crisis – climate change – takes shape through the written word. Ghosh has delved deeply into the question of how to do justice to this existential threat that defies our imagination. His work offers a remedy by making an uncertain future palpable through compelling stories about the past. He also wields his pen to show that the climate crisis is a cultural crisis that results from a dearth of the imagination."
100px \|2025 !scope="row"\|Donna Haraway{{cite web \|title=Donna Haraway \|url=https://erasmusprijs.org/en/laureates/donna-haraway/ \|publisher=Praemium Erasmianum Foundation}} \|"The theme of this year’s prize is “the pursuit of what binds us.” Haraway is an altruistic thinker who explores the many interconnections between biology, literature, art, and social and political engagement. Like Erasmus in The Praise of Folly, she challenges human thought patterns and behaviors that go against humanistic ideals like equality and openness. What sets Haraway apart is that she extends her thinking beyond humans to include all living beings."

class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

scope="col" class="unsortable" | Photo

!scope="col"| Year

!scope="col"| Winner

!scope="col"| Notes

Erasmus Prize

Prize and adornment

Ceremony

Young researchers

Prize winners

See also

References

External links