Award
Hollywood icon Meryl Streep honored with Asturias Prize
US actress Meryl Streep arrives at this year’s Princess of Asturias Awards ceremony. photo
© Raúl Terrel/EUROPA PRESS/dpa
They are considered the “Spanish Nobel Prizes”: The Princess of Asturias Prizes are awarded annually in eight categories. Actress Meryl Streep is also one of this year’s award winners.
The 74-year-old US actress (“Kramer vs. Kramer”, “Out of Africa”) has, in a “brilliant career, brought diverse and complex female characters to life that stimulate reflection and the formation of the critical spirit,” said the jury your decision. In an emotional acceptance speech, Streep described empathy, which is the actor’s gift, as a “radical form of diplomacy in an increasingly hostile and unstable world.”
The Princess of Asturias Awards are named after the heir to the throne. They are awarded annually in eight categories and are considered the “Spanish Nobel Prizes”. The winners each receive 50,000 euros and a replica of a statue of Joan Miró.
Other award winners
The Japanese bestselling author Haruki Murakami (74) received the prize in the literature category. The jury praised the “uniqueness of his literature, its universal reach and the ability to combine Japanese tradition and the heritage of Western culture.”
The award in the International Cooperation category went to the Drugs Against Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi). The network with more than two hundred partners in over forty countries was able to develop treatment methods for six diseases that are rampant in poorer countries, the reason was the statement.
The French historian Hélène Carrère d’Encausse, who died in August at the age of 94, was honored posthumously with the prize in the social sciences category. The jury emphasized that her work is one of the most important contributions of the past decades to understanding and knowledge about the Soviet Union and Russia.
Further prizes were awarded in the areas of science, unity, sport and communication.