In early October this year, the 2015 Nobel Prizes were announced to the world over six days. Since it was founded nearly 110 years ago, the Nobel has been joined by a diverse group of international prizes, each awarding different fields or aspects of achievement: prizes like the Tang Prize. As it is one of a very small number to award prizes in notably 21st century fields, like Sinology or sustainable development, the Tang Prize is unique in the world of academic awards, as one German report highlighted this week. The October 8 edition of the German newsweekly Die Zeit recently published an infographic comparing the academic prizes of the world. The Hamburg-based publication has a readership near 2 million, and is one of the top news publications in Germany, the other being Der Spiegel. The international award infographic (linked below) is color and size-coded for the fields and amount awarded. The Tang Prize, shown center-left, is described as "a biennial prize based out of Taiwan that is given in four categories: Sinology, Biopharmaceutical Science, Rule of Law, and Sustainable Development."
The infographic was sighted and shared by one of the finalists in the Tang Prize Medal Design Competition in 2013, Guenter Wermekes, who remarked that the Tang Prize "seems to become much more popular and important in the world, and in German public."
Placing the Tang Prize "on the map" of international awards marks an important stage in the prize's international awareness. Nominations for the 2016 Tang Prize have seen a surge in growth from the previous award year, from 25% to 50% depending on the category, suggesting that the prize is gaining both awareness and participation from the international community; and growth was especially prominent in Germany. Another considerable factor is the diversity in nominees from all over the globe, which suggests that the prize has garnered approval from the professional world.
And the Tang Prize will soon be in Europe in more than just infographics. This November 18, Tang Prize Laureate in Rule of Law Albie Sachs will deliver a lecture at the 2015 meeting of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) in Vienna. His talk, titled "The Grootboom dilemma— sustainable development and overcoming poverty," will look at some of the overlooked human aspects of sustainability. Then, in December, the Tang Prize will be in Paris for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP21). The Paris meeting comes on the heels of the recent convention in New York in September, where 17 Sustainable Goals were targeted for solutions by 2030. Gro Harlem Brundtland, the 2014 laureate in Sustainable Development, plans to attend the event to support change at this crucial period for the world—the world which these awards, including the Tang Prize, are aimed at improving.
Click the link below to see the infographic from Die Zeit:
http://www.zeit.de/2015/41/nobelpreis-alternative-auszeichnung-forschung
http://www.zeit.de/wissen/2015-10/nobelpreis-alternative.pdf
