The tenor Plácido Domingo, the Spanish foundation Colores de Calcuta, Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) and Youth for Road Safety (YOURS) have been awarded a prize in this edition. Her Majesty Queen Sofía will chair the ceremony for these international awards next June 18 in Madrid.
Fundación MAPFRE has announced its 2014 Social Awards. These international prizes recognize people and institutions that have made outstanding contributions for the benefit of society in the scientific, cultural and social fields.
The prize money for each of these awards is 30,000 euros and they will be given on Thursday, June 18 at a ceremony chaired by Her Majesty Queen Sofía to be held at the Casino of Madrid.
This year there were over 450 nominations from Spain, Portugal and Latin America. Of these, the following won awards:
Plácido Domingo: “José Manuel Martínez Lifetime Achievement Award”
Fundación MAPFRE has awarded this prize to Plácido Domingo (Madrid, 1941), the Spanish tenor, orchestra conductor, producer and composer, in recognition of “a fruitful and exemplary career at the service of society and people”.
Plácido Domingo, an international figure of the lyric arts, with over 56 years of intense artistic activity as a singer, and more than 40 as a conductor, is currently the Director of the National Opera of Washington and of the Los Angeles Opera (California).
The jury of this award was made up of personalities of the stature of the Spanish ophthalmologist Joaquin Barraquer; Manuel Jesús Lagares, Chairman of the Commission of Experts for the Tax Reform; Antonio Bonet, former director of the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts; José Manuel Blecua, Director of the Spanish Royal Language Academy; Fernando Ledesma, a Supreme Court judge; and the Spanish politician and jurist Fernando Suárez, in addition to Fundación MAPFRE representatives.
Their decision took into account “the nominee’s generous dedication to his professional activity”, as well as his “boundless energy”, “personal involvement in the discovery and promotion of young talent” and his great capacity to collaborate selflessly in many causes that required his social support.
“Comprehensive health care program in the Pilkhana neighborhood in Calcutta” of the Colores de Calcuta Foundation: “Award for the Best Social Action Initiative”
Fundación MAPFRE has awarded this recognition to the Colores de Calcuta Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Madrid. The award recognizes the merits of a person or organization that performs an outstanding and effective social action for the benefit of the most disadvantaged people.
The award-winning initiative this year has been the “Comprehensive health care program in the Pilkhana neighborhood in Calcutta” conducted by this organization in one of the poorer areas in Calcutta, where 100,000 people live in conditions of extreme poverty. The aim of the project is to reduce malnutrition among young people, mitigate their mortality rate and improve their health. They open pediatric offices, promote vaccination campaigns and perform surgical operations.
The jury in this category included Father Ángel, the founder of Messengers of Peace; Consuelo Crespo, former chairwoman of the Spanish Committee of UNICEF; and Rosa Queipo de Llano, General Secretary of the Konecta Foundation.
Together with representatives of Fundación MAPFRE, they valued the social benefit provided by this organization’s projects, which looks after the most disadvantaged social groups in India, mainly young people and women.
Cardiac Risk in the Young (United Kingdom): “Award for the Best Health Promotion Initiative”
Fundación MAPFRE has awarded this prize, which recognizes the significant contribution of an organization to the promotion of health and the improvement of the quality of life, to Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY), a UK-based organization devoted to researching and preventing cardiovascular diseases that in recent years has saved the lives of many young people who could have suffered an episode of sudden cardiac death.
CRY has been working for the last 20 years in programs aimed at preventing this type of episodes among young people in the United Kingdom and its activity is funded exclusively through the organization of activities designed to raise funds and donations from individuals. It also supports research into the diseases that predispose people to a cardiac arrest, it has provided material resources to cardiac units, and it has funded the Cardiac Pathology Center and the CRY Center for Hereditary Heart Disease and Sports Cardiology.
The jury that awarded this prize was made up of José Luis Zamorano, Head of the Cardiology Department of the Ramón y Cajal Hospital; Gregorio Varela, Chairman of the Spanish Nutrition Foundation; María Dolores Limón, Director of the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety; Joaquin Poch, Chairman of the Royal National Academy of Medicine; and Joaquín Rubio, of the Directorate General of Public Health of the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality, as well as Fundación MAPFRE representatives.
The criteria they took into account included the “significant contribution of this organization to the promotion of health and the improvement of the quality of life, the degree of innovation and the originality of the action undertaken”.
“Youth Capacity Development Programme”, by YOURS (Youth for Road Safety): “Award for the Best Road Prevention and Safety Initiative”
Fundación MAPFRE has awarded this prize, which recognizes the relevant contribution made by an organization to the prevention and reduction of traffic accidents, to YOURS (Youth for Road Safety), an organization based in Holland.
The aim of the award-winning program, “Youth Capacity Development Programme”, is based on three key points: to increase awareness among young people of the importance of road safety, to encourage this group of people to participate actively in actions designed to prevent accidents, and to develop their skills to implement best practices in this area.
The jury on this occasion included María Seguí, Director General of Traffic; Pere Macías, Chairman of the Road Safety and Sustainable Mobility Commission of the Spanish Parliament; Inés Ayala, an MEP and member of the Transport and Tourism Commissions; and Herman De Croo, Chairman of the European Road Safety Council (ETSC), as well as Fundación MAPFRE representatives.
They all took a positive view of the major achievements of this organization, which conducts its activity through conferences, events and other informative initiatives organized all over the world with the aim of training young people, primarily under the age of 25 years, who are the main victims of road accidents, to prevent this type of incidents.
For more information: http://www.fundacionmapfre.org/
