The Princess of Asturias Foundation

27 nominations from 14 different countries are in the running for this award, the second of eight international awards that are bestowed each year by the Prince of Asturias Foundation, and which are now in their thirty-second year.

Jury meeting for the 2012 Prince of Asturias Award for Social Sciences. ©FPA

The meetings of the jury responsible for awarding the 2012 Prince of Asturias Award for Social Sciences, the second of eight international awards that will be bestowed by the Prince of Asturias Foundation, will be held on May 15^th and 16^th. The awards will be bestowed this year for the thirty-second time in their history.

According to the Statutes of the Foundation, the Prince of Asturias Awards aim “to reward the scientific, technical, cultural, social and humanistic work performed at an international level by individuals, institutions or groups of individuals or institutions”. As part of this spirit, the Prince of Asturias Award for Social Sciences shall be conferred on those “whose creative work or research in the fields of History, Law, Linguistics, Education, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, Ethics, Philosophy, Geography, Economics, Demography or Anthropology, including the disciplines corresponding to each of these fields, constitutes a significant contribution to the benefit of Mankind”.

There are 27 nominations in the running for this Award from Argentina, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Morocco, Mexico, Portugal, Switzerland, Turkey, 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.

The Jury, which is to meet at the Reconquista Hotel, will be made up of the following members:

Inés Alberdi Alonso
Lluis Xabel Álvarez Fernández
Gonzalo Anes y Álvarez de Castrillón, marquis of Castrillón
Inés Fernández-Ordoñez Hernández
José Luis García Delgado
Severino García Vigón
Mauro Guillén Rodríguez
María del Carmen Iglesias Cano
Adolfo Menéndez Menéndez
Aurelio Menéndez Menéndez, marquis of Ibias
Manuel Menéndez Menéndez
Manuel Olivencia Ruiz
José Manuel Otero Novas
Carmen Pérez Die
Rafael Puyol Antolín
Juan Vázquez García (secretary)

Members of the juries will hold an initial meeting with the media at 12 noon on Tuesday 15^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 noon on Wednesday 16^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 150 countries via the main national and international radio and television channels. The signal will be openly transmitted via Hispasat satellite (America and Europe). In addition, there will be a live Internet broadcast at the Foundation's website.