The Board of the Ludvig Holberg Memorial Fund is now inviting nominations for the Holberg International Memorial Prize for outstanding scientific work in the areas of the arts and humanities, social sciences, law and theology. The prize, which has a value of NOK 4.5 million (approx. € 520,000/ $ 640,000), will be awarded for the first time on 3 December 2004.
26/04/2004 :: The prize is named after the Norwegian/Danish scholar and playwright Ludvig Holberg. Holberg was born in Bergen in 1684 and held chairs of Metaphysics and Logic, Latin Rhetoric and History at the University of Copenhagen. Holberg had a modernising influence on his diverse research fields. His works have been widely published and had a considerable impact also outside academia. The prize will be awarded to scholars who have made outstanding and internationally recognised contributions in the areas of the arts and humanities, social sciences, law or theology. The contribution may be within the framework of one discipline or be interdisciplinary in nature. The Holberg Board will select the laureate based upon the recommendations of an academic committee. The name of the Holberg laureate will be announced on 15 September 2004.The Holberg Prize aims to increase society’s awareness of the value of research in these fields. "The prize is intended to raise public and academic awareness of the importance of arts and humanities, social sciences, law and theology. It gives us an opportunity to recognise scholars who have made an important impact on their academic field as well as having contributed to our common understanding of our own culture as well as other cultures", says Professor Jan Fridthjof Bernt, newly appointed chairperson of the Ludvig Holberg Memorial Fund.
Another important goal of the Holberg Prize is to encourage and stimulate young people’s interest in the academic fields of the arts and humanities, social sciences, law and theology. To this end, the Holberg Prize will initiate school projects at 6-8 secondary schools in Norway during the autumn of 2004.
The Ludvig Holberg Memorial Fund will also award the Nils Klim Prize to younger Nordic researchers in the field of the arts and humanities, social sciences, law or theology. The value of the Nils Klim Prize is NOK 250,000 (approx. € 29,000/$ 35,000).For more information, please contact:Bodil Kjelstrup – the Holberg PrizeT: +47 55 58 69 92M: +47 92 23 54 20 E: Bodil.Kjelstrup@holberg.uib.no