The 2018 winners of the prize are Pakistani filmmaker, journalist, and activist Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy; Columbia University neuroscientist Rafael Yuste; and the Plateforme des Confessions Religieuses de Centrafrique. The latter group includes Imam Omar Kobine, a Cardinal Dieudonné Nzapalainga, and Pastor Guérékoyame-Gbangou, who have worked to bridge religious and civic devides in the Central African Republic.
The Tällberg Foundation describes the event as “part celebration, part forum, and part call to action” that will bring together thinkers from a range of disciplines. It will take place at the Instituto Technologico Auntonomo de Mexico, Mexico’s leading private research university. A daylong workshop will focus on the themes of “technology and ethics, art and cultural leadership, and restoring fractured societies.”
The Tällberg Foundation was established nearly four decades ago with a goal of fostering thought and action on the pressing challenges facing liberal democracies around the world. The Eliasson Prize, named for Swedish diplomat and former Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Jan Eliasson, honors leaders from around the world whose work is optimistic, rooted in universal values, and global in vision. Each winner is awarded $50,000.
“The Eliasson Global Leadership Prize identifies and honors leaders, whose creative, bold and principled leadership is desperately needed today,” said Andreas Dracopoulos, Co-President of the SNF.