The Princess of Asturias Foundation

40 nominations from 21 different countries are in the running for this award, the fifth of eight international awards that are bestowed each year by the Prince of Asturias Foundation, and which are now in their twenty-ninth year.

The meetings of the jury responsible for awarding the 2009 Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research, the fifth of eight international awards that will be bestowed by the Prince of Asturias Foundation, will be held on June 16^th and 17^th. The awards will be bestowed this year for the twenty-ninth time in their history.

The Prince of Asturias Awards aim, to quote from the Statutes of the Foundation "to reward the scientific, technical, cultural, social and humanistic work performed by individuals, groups of individuals or institutions at an international level." As part of this spirit, the Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research "will be bestowed upon the person, institution, group of people or group of institutions whose discoveries or research work represent a significant contribution to Mankind's progress in the fields of Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Medicine, or Earth and Space Sciences, or to techniques or technologies related to these fields"

There are 40 nominations in the running for this Award from Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Pakistan, Portugal, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States and Spain.

The Award is endowed with fifty thousand Euros, a sculpture created and specially donated for the Awards by Joan Miró, a diploma and an insignia

Members of the juries will hold an initial meeting with the media at about 10.30 a.m. on Tuesday 16^th in the "Salón de Consejos" of the hotel (on the first floor), immediately prior to being formally convened and starting their deliberations. The jury will then elect a president from amongst them. The Jury secretary will be appointed by the Foundation.

Their decision will be made public at 12.00 a.m. on Wednesday 17^th in the Salón Covadonga of the hotel (on the ground floor), and jury members will then be available for interviews.

The reading of the jury's decision will be broadcast live for more than 120 countries via the main national and international radio and television channels. The signal will be openly transmitted via the Hispasat and Intelsat satellites. In addition, there will be a live Internet broadcast at the Foundation's website: www.fpa.es

EUROPE

Platform: Europe I (CANAL FEEDS 1 TSA)
Satellite: Hispasat 1C
Orbital Position: 30º West
Transponder: 46
RX Frequency: 11.931 MHz
Band: Ku
Polarization: Horizontal
Symbol Rate: 27,5 MSymbols
F.E.C.: ¾
Coding: MPEG2 DVB

AMERICA

Satellite: INTELSAT 3R
Transponder: 15K 7C SLOT 4
RX Frequency: 3908.5 MHz
Band: C
Polarization: Vertical
Symbol Rate: 4.500 MSymbols
F.E.C.: ¾

Tel. Hispasat: + 34 91 512 94 98