Taipei, May 24 (CNA) Lin Cheung (張翠蓮), the designer of the second Tang Prize certificate, said Tuesday that she hopes her work reflects the great achievements of humanity and highlights the possibilities in the fields of invention and creativity.
Cheung, who was commissioned by the Tang Prize Foundation to design the certificates, said she had created what she hoped was a symbol of mankind's ability to make the world a better place.
Paper is one of the materials used to express human emotions through the printed word, works of art and scientific observations, she said.
The certificate, therefore, reflects the spirit of the Tang Prize, which recognizes top researchers and leaders in the fields of sustainable development, biopharmaceutical science, Sinology, and the rule of law, Cheung said.
In creating the certificate, Cheung said, she also used buckram and adopted letterpress and screen printing techniques.
The certificate is in a gold-colored folder that has a curved design, can be folded outward or inward, and can be placed upright, allowing for either public display or private storage, she said.
"The diploma belongs to one (individual) and everyone," she said.
Cheung said the six-month design process was an intimate experience aimed at producing a certificate that would not only publicly recognize the achievements of the Tang laureates, but also engage them with the work of art.
The themes of the designs printed on the certificate vary, depending on the discipline for which it will be awarded.
The certificate for sustainable development depicts all the countries and peoples of the world living in harmony, while the one for biopharmaceutical science shows the possibility of a breakthrough formula for the science of life.
For the Sinology certificate, Cheung adopted the theme of the eight basic calligraphic brush strokes that form Chinese characters, and for the rule of law award, she used fingerprints to represent the touch of human endeavor.
The winners of the second Tang Prize will be announced over a four-day period June 18-21, and the announcements will be streamed live on YouTube for the first time.
An award ceremony will be held Sept. 25, and the laureates will give a series of lectures at universities around Taiwan from Sept. 26-28.
The biennial award was established by Taiwanese entrepreneur Samuel Yin (尹衍樑) in 2012 to complement the Nobel Prize. The first Tang Prize award ceremony was held in 2014.
(By Lee Hisn-Yin)
