Empress Theophano Prize: the first 5 years of a noble initiative that honours exceptional contribution to human betterment

The Empress Theophano Prize was created in order to reward individuals or organizations which have made, or are making, an outstanding contribution to building bridges among people, nations, ideologies, to improving mutual understanding of our diverse roots, and therefore human betterment.

Previous winners were the EU’s Erasmus student exchange programme, the inventors of the life-saving Covid vaccine, Dr Uğur Şahin and Dr Özlem Türeci, the globally respected pianist and maestro Daniel Barenboim for his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, and the United Nations, in the person of  António Gutteres, UN Secretary General, for its contribution to world peace and international cooperation. 2024 Theophano Foundation prize was the fifth such award and was presented to Special Olympics for their aim to highlight intellectual disability rights and to build a more inclusive society, a world where everyone is accepted, celebrated and welcomed, regardless of abilities.