Romano Prodi (born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician who served as the 10th President of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004. He served twice as Prime Minister of Italy, first from 17 May 1996 to 21 October 1998 and then from 17 May 2006 to 8 May 2008. He is considered the founder of the Italian centre-left and one of the most prominent and iconic figures of the so-called Second Republic.

A former professor of economics, Prodi ran in 1996 as lead candidate of The Olive Tree coalition, winning the general election and serving as Prime Minister of Italy until 1998. Following the victory of his coalition The Union in the April 2006 Italian elections, Prodi took power again. Up to this time, he has been the only one lead candidate of Italian centre-left who won elections and managed to form a government without the need of opponents' parliamentary support.

On 14 October 2007, Prodi became the first President of the Democratic Party upon foundation of the party. On 12 September 2008, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon selected Prodi as president of the African Union-United Nations peacekeeping panel.He is currently serving as the United Nations Special Envoy for the Sahel.

LETTER OF OHRID ACADEMY OF HUMANISM TO ROMANO PRODI

"It is a great honor and veritable joy to be informed about the bestowment of The world prize for humanism 2019 to myself. I’m very grateful to the Ohrid Academy of Humanism to have considered my profile as a winner of such a prestigious award, which in the past was given to personalities of a highest level. I’m equally grateful because I’m convinced that the values of humanism are very important, especially now, in the context of present tendencies, as they are openly defied by the forces of populism. I hereby confirm my presence in Ohrid in January 2019, with my wife Flavia, to receive the world prize for humanism.
With respect,
Romano Prodi"

LETTER OF ROMANO PRODI

The International  jury of  Ohrid Academy  of Humanism unanimously decided to give The World Prize for Humanism for 2018 to the great name of world  science  and literature - Jean-Patrick Connrade.
Jean-Patrick Connerade is emeritus professor of physics at Imperial College London, UK, and the president of the European Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters (EASAL). He is also an award winning poet in his own right, writing in French, under the pen name of  Chaunes. He is also a former president of EuroScience
      Since its establishment in 2007, the World Humanism Award has been awarded to the champions of international humanist vision, like Daisaku Ikeda (Japan), Manuel De Olveira (Portugal), Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (Russia), Ravi Shankar (India), Peter Brook (UK), Herta Müller (Germany), John Ralston Saul (Canada), Svetlin Rusev (Bulgaria), Vida Ognjenoviic (Serbia), Darko Gasparovic (Croatia).
The award ceremony of the World Prize for Humanism to Jiri Svoboda, will take place in Ohrid, on January 18 –“Vodici”, in the house of Urania, of  MANU, starting at 19 o'clock. On the ceremony there
speeches by: Jordan Plevnes – President of The Ohrid Academy of Humanism, His Excellency the Ambassador of the United Kingdom in Macedonia, Charles Garrett, The mayor of Municipality of Ohrid, Jovan Stojanoski who will be presenting the award, and award winner Jean-Patrick Connerade.

LETTER OF THE INTERNATIONAL JURY OF THE OHRID ACADEMY OF HUMANISM FOR JEAN-PATRICK CONNERADE


"1st of November 2017

Dear President Plevnes

I am deeply touched and honoured by the choice the jury has made of awarding me the World Prize of Humanism for the year 2018. It is indeed a great honour to receive it after so many distinguished artists and philosophers whose work I very much admire, and your kind words inspire me with the hope that I will indeed prove worthy of such a high recognition. I feel particularly touched because the prize has the aim of rewarding contributions coming from many different fields of human endeavour. I have attempted over many years to bring together literature and the investigative sciences in a common pursuit of beauty and to foster a fruitful dialogue between them – especially between poetry and all forms of scientific research. I feel this aspect of humanism is particularly important today. The cultural links between sciences and the arts are essential to our new century. Young people all over the world feel the need for restoring the unity of human thought and are strongly attracted towards all forms of expression which combine them in novel ways. If the sciences were not beautiful or if the arts ignored new knowledge, the world would be a poorer place. Humanity has always aspired towards ethical and philosophical values capable of bringing them together in the greatest possible harmony. This spirit is clearly reflected in the choices the Jury has made of past laureates of the World Prize of Humanism, and I feel truly honoured in being included amongst them. I accept this prize with deep gratitude and will be happy to come to Ohrid and address the Academy of Humanism which perpetuates the fine tradition of St Clement of Ohrid to this day.

With kind regards

Jean-Patrick Connerade

Imperial College London and the European Academy of Sciences Arts and Letters"

The International  jury of  Ohrid Academy  of Humanism unanimously decided to give The World Prize for Humanism for 2017 to the great name of Czech and world cinema - Jiri Svoboda. His extraordinary life and creative work, whose artistic crown was last year’s masterpiece dedicated to Jan Hus, placed him among  the big names of the world humanist thought, that over the years have enriched the spiritual memory of the city of Ohrid, the city of the eternal living Macedonian enlighteners St. Clement and St. Naum, students of the apostles of Slavic culture Ss. Cyril and Methodius, patrons of Europe.
      Since its establishment in 2007, the World Humanism Award has been awarded to the champions of international humanist vision, like Daisaku Ikeda (Japan), Manuel De Olveira (Portugal), Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (Russia), Ravi Shankar (India), Peter Brook (UK), Herta Müller (Germany), John Ralston Saul (Canada), Svetlin Rusev (Bulgaria), Vida Ognjenoviic (Serbia), Darko Gasparovic (Croatia).
The award ceremony of the World Prize for Humanism to Jiri Svoboda, will take place in Ohrid, on January 18 –“Vodici”, in the house of Urania, of  MANU, starting at 19 o'clock. On the ceremony there speeches by: Jordan Plevnes – President of The Ohrid Academy of Humanism, His Excellency Miroslav Ramesh - Ambassador of the Czech Republic in Macedonia, The mayor of Municipality of Ohrid Dr. Nikola Bakarachevski, who will be presenting the award, and award winner Jiri Svoboda.
















"Dear Mr Jordan Plevnes,

It is the great honor and pleasure for me to receive the announcement that you together with the international jury have decided to award me with such a prestigious prize. I was not only gratified, but also really surprised. Please accept my sincere thanks.
I am delighted to accept your kind invitation to Ohrid and Skopje and I am looking forward to the opportunity of our encounter."
Jiri Svoboda

Reactions in the Macedonian media

This autumn in marked by the proclamation of Mother Teresa as a saint, and not only in Macedonia , but all the Balkan states feel this act as great celebration of modern times. The  inspiration for the choice of the name Teresa came from St. Thérèse of Lisieux, and The Ohrid academy of Humanism, along with the publishing house Macedonia Prima, printed "Story of a Soul, the Autobiography", translated by Liljana Kotevska – Plevnes. This book was awarded by the prize “The Archbishop Gabriel”, for best spiritual book in Macedonia, and the French magazine La Revue St. Therese of Lisieux included in its  2008 edition, a wonderful article about the discovering of St. Therese in the Balkans. By the end of this year the second Macedonian edition of this book, already translated in more that hundred languages of the world , will be published in Ohrid.

SVETLIN ROUSSEV WINNER OF
WORLD PRIZE OF HUMANISM 2014

We have honor to announce that this year Winner of World Prize of Humanism is worldly known Bulgarian academic painter Svetlin Roussev. He was unanimously chosen from seven member International jury of Ohrid Academy of Humanism, presided by Jordan Plevnes. In the middle of December 2013, it will be organized press conference in Skopje.
The announcing ceremony in the presence of laureate, by tradition will happen on 18th January 2014 in Ohrid, city of UNESCO, day before the great orthodox holiday Epiphany, in the Uranija house of Macedonian Academy of Science and Arts in 19.00 h._


Biography of the laureate Svetlin Roussev

Dear Mr. Plevnes,
First of all, allow me to express my gratitude to you and to the international jury of the Ohrid Academy of Humanism for rewarding my creative and social activity with the World Prize of Humanism 2014. I am not only surprised by that honor but also delighted to become part of the outstanding spiritual family of the World Prize of Humanism holders.
We live in a world of chaos, violence, solitude and illusions and the only possible set of rules to guide us should derive from our moral, social and professional responsibility. The Ohrid Academy of Humanism’s mission has been to align the efforts for creating a world home of faith and humanism with the course of time and with our own individual development.
Being fully aware of the great responsibility that I should carry with that prestigious prize, I can assure you that I will not spare my modest efforts to become one of the builders of that common home.
I thank you once again with all my heart!

We have honor to announce that this year Winner of World Prize of Humanism is German writer and Nobel Prize laureate Ms. Herta Müller, who with her imposing literature work, well known all over the world.
Ms. Herta Müller was unanimously chosen by seven member International jury of Ohrid Academy of Humanism. The announcing ceremony, by tradition will happen on 18th January 2013 in Ohrid, city of UNESCO, day before the great orthodox holiday Epiphany, in the Uranija house of Macedonian Academy of Science and Arts in 19.00 h.

Herta Mueller was born in 1953 in Nitzkydorf in Banat. Her family belonged to the German minority in Romania. From 1973 to 1976, she studied German and Romanian Philology at the West University in Timișoara. After completing her studies, she worked as a translator at a machine factory as well as a teacher until she was dismissed in 1979, because she refused to cooperate with the Romanian secret service, Securitate. She was the only woman in the »Adam Müller-Guttenbrunn« literary circle, which included Romanian-German authors who had been members of the so-called “Aktionsgruppe Banat”, which had been disbanded by Securitate.
Her first volume of stories »Niederungen« (Eng. Nadirs) presents the village life of the Swabians living in Banat in haunting scenes that oscillate between fear, hopelessness, corruption, misery and violence. The volume was only released in Romania in 1982 after radical interventions by the censors. In 1984, the stories were also published in Germany in revised form. Because of the criticism of Ceaușescu’s totalitarian regime she expressed in interviews, she was given a publication and travel ban in her home country, harassed by the secret service and subject to death threats. In 1987, she was finally able to travel to West Berlin. She dealt with her experiences of living in exile, being uprooted from her home and her loneliness in »Reisende auf einem Bein« (1989; Eng. Travelling on One Leg) among others. In addition to novels like »Herztier« (1994; Eng. The Land of Green Plums) and »Heute wär ich mir lieber nicht begegnet« (1997; Eng. The Appointment), she has also written many essays , some of which have been published in collections like »Der König verneigt sich und tötet« (2003; tr. The King Bows and Kills) and »Immer derselbe Schnee und immer derselbe Onkel« (2011; tr. Always the Same Snow and the Same Uncle). In addition, she has completed several albums with lyrical collages made up of words and syllables cut out of newspapers and books. In 2009, her novel »Atemschaukel« (Eng. The Hunger Angel), was released, based on discussions with poet Oskar Pastior about his deportation to a Soviet work camp. The text is marked by Mueller's powerfully eloquent style of presenting individual words and metaphors in extremely compact form. Most recently, she published her new volume of poetic collages »Vater telefoniert mit den Fliegen« (2012; tr. Father is Telephoning with the Flies).
In 2009, Herta Mueller was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. »The subject of dictatorship is necessarily present, because nothing can ever again be a matter of course once we have been robbed of nearly all ability to take anything for granted.«, she said in her Stockholm Address and told how she took up writing in a degrading and perfidious system: »What was happening could no longer be expressed in speech. [...] That I could only spell out in my head, voicelessly, within the vicious circle of the words during the act of writing.« She was also awarded the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (1998), the Berlin Literature Prize (2005) and the Order of Merit of the federal Republic of Germany (2010). In 2010, the exhibition »Der kalte Schmuck des Lebens« (tr. The cold jewels of life) designed by Ernest Wichner was dedicated to her. Herta Mueller lives in Berlin.