DHAKA: Unlike the previous years, 2014 is remarkable for a record in the world of awards. This year the Nobel committee made Pakistani children rights activist Malala Yousafzai the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate at her age of 17. The winners of other major awards are given below:
Nobel Prizes
In Physics
The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded jointly to Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura ‘for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources’.
In Chemistry
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded jointly to Eric Betzig, Stefan W Hell and William E Moerner ‘for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy’.
In Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was divided, one half awarded to John O’Keefe, the other half jointly to May-Britt Moser and Edvard I Moser ‘for their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain’.
In Literature
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2014 was awarded to Patrick Modiano ‘for the art of memory with which he has evoked the most ungraspable human destinies and uncovered the life-world of the occupation’.
In Peace
The Nobel Peace Prize 2014 was awarded jointly to Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai ‘for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education’
In Economics
The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2014 was awarded to Jean Tirole ‘for his analysis of market power and regulation’.
Pulitzer Prize
The Washington Post and The Guardian US shared this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, often considered the top prize for journalism. The two papers were honored for their coverage of the disclosures about surveillance done by the US National Security Agency. Edward Snowden, who leaked security documents to the two newspapers, said the award was ‘vindication for everyone who believes that the public has a role in government’.
Moreover, ‘The Goldfinch’ by Donna Tartt won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The judges described the novel, which took Tartt 11 years to write, as ‘a beautifully written coming-of-age novel with exquisitely drawn characters’.
Vijay Seshadri won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his collection 3 Sections. Other literary winners included ‘The Internal Enemy’ by Alan Taylor, ‘Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation’ by Dan Fagin, and Megan Marshall’s biography of ‘Margaret Fuller’.
Academy Awards
The movie ‘Gravity’ may be set in space, but it achieved a landslide at the 86th Academy Awards, taking seven Oscars, while ‘12 Years a Slave’ received three with the title of ‘Best Picture’. Cate Blanchett won the Best Actress award for her performance in ‘Blue Jasmine’ and Matthew McConaughey won Best Actor for Dallas Buyers Club.
The other winners are Alfonso Cuarón (Best Director: Gravity), Lupita Nyong’o (Best Supporting Actress: 12 Years a Slave) and Jared Leto (Best Supporting Actor: Dallas Buyers Club).
Italian movie ‘The Great Beauty’ won Best Foreign Language Film award and ‘Frozen’ the Best Animated Feature Film.
Golden Globe
The Best Drama Motion Picture award of 71st Golden Globe went to ‘12 Years a Slave’ while Best Musical or Comedy Motion Picture went to ‘American Hustle’. Italian movie ‘The Great Beauty’ earned the Best Foreign Language Film title in Golden Globe.
Matthew McConaughey, Cate Blanchett, Leonardo DiCaprio, Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence were among the awardees for their respective roles.
Grammy Awards
This year ‘Random Access Memories’ of Pharrell Williams, Daft Punk, Giorgio Moroder won the Album of the Year award in Grammy while Macklemore & Ryan Lewis won the Best New Artist.
‘Royals’ of Lorde, Joel Little was Song of the Year and ‘Get Lucky’ of Pharrell Williams, Daft Punk, Robert C. Ludwig the Record of the Year and ‘The Heist’ of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis as Best Rap Album
The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award went to Maud Powell, Kris Kristofferson, The Beatles, Clifton Chenier, The Isley Brothers and Armando Manzanero Kraftwerk.
‘Suit & Tie’ of Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake and David Fincher won the Best Music Video award and ‘Cut Me Some Slack’ of Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic the Best Rock Song.
Primetime Emmy Awards
American crime drama television series ‘Breaking Bad’ won the Outstanding Drama Series title in this year’s Primetime Emmy Awards while situation comedy ‘Modern Family’ won the Outstanding Comedy Series title.
Bryan Cranston won Outstanding Lead Actor (Drama Series) wards for his performance in Breaking Bad and Julianna Margulies won Outstanding Lead Actress (Drama Series) for ‘The Good Wife’.
The title Outstanding Lead Actress (Comedy Series) went to Julia Louis-Dreyfus for ‘Veep’ and Outstanding Lead Actor (Comedy Series) to Jim Parsons for ‘The Big Bang Theory’.
MTV Music Video Awards
Miley Cyrus won the Video of the Year title in MTV Music Video Awards for her ‘Wrecking Ball’ while Ariana Grande and Iggy Azalea’s ‘Problem’ won Best Pop Video.
The Best Female Video award went to Katy Perry and Juicy J’s for their ‘Dark Horse’ while the Best Male Video went to Pharrell Williams and Ed Sheeran for the ‘Sing’ and the Best Rock Video title went to Royals’ ‘Lorde’.
Magsaysay
The prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Awards for year 2014 were announced on 31 July naming six winners. Education was a big theme in this year’s awards, with two individuals who have dedicated their lives to educating indigenous communities – a Filipino and an Indonesian – and a Pakistani organization that builds schools for girls, among the awardees. Following is the list of these six winners.
1) Saur Marlina Manurung (Indonesia)
She was cited for ‘her ennobling passion to protect and improve the lives of Indonesia’s forest people’ through jungle schools put up by her organization. An anthropologist by profession, she put up a ‘Jungle School’ program for children of Indonesia’s Orang Rimba, or forest people.
2) Randy Halasan (The Philippines)
He was chosen for the award for serving the indigenous Matigsalug tribe. He put in huge efforts in teaching the children of the Matigsalug tribe in one of the remotest mountain villages in Mindanao.
3) Hu Shuli (China)
He is a Chinese investigative journalist whose work has led to the ouster of corrupt officials. He is the founder and former editor of ‘Caijing’ a business magazine famed for its groundbreaking investigative reporting that has had a profound impact on China.
4) Omara Khan Masoudi (Afghanistan)
Masoudi was awarded for his courage in protecting Afghan cultural heritage. At great risk to his life, the deputy director of the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul led his colleagues in moving some of the museum’s most precious objects to safety during the Taliban’s assault on his country’s cultural treasures in the 1990s.
5) The Citizen Foundation (Pakistan)
The Citizen Foundation, a non-profit organisation (NGO) in Pakistan founded by six business leaders, was recognized for building 1,000 schools over hundreds of cities and towns in the country with the world’s second highest number of children who are out of school.
6) Wang Canfa (China)
Wang Canfa founded the Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims, which has offered free legal services to thousands of people and provided environmental law training to lawyers and others.
BDST: 1242 HRS, DEC 31, 2014
