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Templeton Prize Laureate to be announced on March 29
Event:
Date:
Venue:
Announcement of Templeton Prize
March 29, 2012, 6:00 AM EDT (New York) / 11:00 AM GMT (London)
Online at www.templetonprize.org, via email to journalists, and on Twitter via @TempletonPrize
The winner of the 2012 Templeton Prize will be announced on Thursday, March 29, 6:00 AM EDT (New York)
and 11:00 AM GMT (London), online at www.templetonprize.org, via email to journalists, and on Twitter via
@TempletonPrize.
The Prize will be awarded at a ceremony at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London on the afternoon of Monday, May 14.
A press panel with the 2012 Prize Laureate will precede the ceremony. Both invitation-only events will be
webcast live at www.templetonprize.org and to interested global media on a pool basis. Photography from the
events will also be pooled.
Valued at £1.1 million (about $1.7 million or €1.3 million), the Templeton Prize is the world's largest annual
monetary award given to an individual.
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The Prize celebrates its 40 Anniversary in 2012, and each year honors a living person who has made an
exceptional contribution to affirming life’s spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical
works. Established in 1972 by the late global investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton, the Prize is a
cornerstone of the John Templeton Foundation’s international efforts to serve as a philanthropic catalyst for
discoveries relating to the Big Questions of human purpose and ultimate reality.
The judges for the 2012 Templeton Prize, who deliberate independently from one another in their selection each
year, represent a wide range of disciplines, cultures, and religious traditions:
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Durre Sameen Ahmed, Chairperson of the Department of Academic Studies and Professor of Psychology
and Communication at the National College of Arts, Pakistan;
Russell Cowburn, FRS, Director of Research of the Thin Film Magnetism group in the department of physics
at Cambridge University;
Gurcharan Das, an author, columnist and management consultant, and the former CEO of Procter &
Gamble India;
Prince Heinrich von und zu Liechtenstein, professor at the IESE Business School, Barcelona, Spain;
Esther Sternberg, Chief of Neuroendocrine Immunology and Behavior at the National Institute of Mental
Health, Bethesda, Maryland;
Tu Weiming, Lifetime Professor of Philosophy and Dean, Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies, Peking
University, and Research Professor and Senior Fellow of Asia Center, Harvard University;
Faraneh Vargha-Khadem, Professor of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London
Institute of Child Health;
Miroslav Volf, Director of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture and Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology at
Yale University Divinity School;
Gayle Woloschak, a molecular biologist and professor at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of
Medicine and director, Zygon Center for Religion and Science.
The 2012 Prize laureate will join a distinguished group of 41 former recipients. Last year’s award went to the
astrophysicist Martin Rees, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, and former president of the Royal Society, for
his achievements in cosmology and astrophysics and for his contributions to understanding the origin and nature
of the universe.
Note: No advance interviews with the 2012 Laureate will be available prior to the announcement on March 29.
Contact: Donald Lehr – The Nolan/Lehr Group, +1.212.967.8200, [email protected]