For the past several years now, Bologna City in Italy has been conducting a worldwide search for model individuals in their chosen fields of endeavor.
At stake are 25,000 euros for the winner and 10,000 euros each for two runners-up in the Premio Alta Qualita or High Quality Award. The winners also get a "symbolic object" as memento of the occasion. The winners can use the cash prizes to support their projects or activities.
To help Bologna pick the winners, it invites international jurors - mostly the chief executives of cities and provinces with which it has a "relationship."
Bohol is one such local government unit (LGU), along with Vaxjo, Sweden and Guntur, India, that was a partner in the International Council for Local Environment Initiatives (ICLEI) such that Bologna Mayor Sergio Conferatti invited Gov. Erico Aumentado to form part of the panel of jurors.
Aumentado declined last year and sent Provincial Planning Officer Juanito.
Cambangay instead. This year, however, Bologna did not take "no" for an answer so that Aumentado and Cambangay, now retired but appointed as consultant on Official Development Assistance (ODA), went to Italy in time for the selection of the winner from among three finalists, and are expected to be back in the Philippines tonight yet.
Conferrati, Aumentado and the rest of the jurors and the Italian President were also expected at the awarding ceremonies last Nov. 15.
Other jurors who confirmed their presence and who are also chief executives are from Fortaleza, Brazil; Guntur, India; Kharkiv, Ukraine; Ljubljana, Slovenia; Nantes, France; Nurnberg, Germany and Tuzla, Bornia Herzegovina.
The Premio Alta Qualità aims to highlight and promote experiences that express man's ability to aspire for a higher quality of life from the standpoints of knowledge, well-being and the advancement of civilization.
Persons of legal age from any country who have distinguished themselves in their fields of activity are eligible to be nominated for the award. The candidates must not be involved in the production or sale of weapons, or be implicated in criminal activities in general, in any way.
The jury is composed of representatives of organizations and corporations that express the many facets of society, such as institutions and associations from the worlds of economics, finance, science, sports, culture and information, as well as non-profit organizations.
With the 2007 edition, as in the last one, the jury was expanded to include the mayors of foreign towns and cities that have important cooperation and collaboration ties with Bologna. This is in order to broaden the scope of the award and strengthen the city's international relationships.
This year's finalists are Ilda Boccassini, an Italian magistrate who handled, among others, high profile cases against organized crime; Somaly Mam, Cambodian, founder of Afesip Association, a non-government organization helping women and children who are sexually or otherwise abused, and Roberto Saviano, Italian writer and reporter who exposed an alleged criminal organization believed to be already extinct - along with its operations and extent of its influences.
-- The Bohol ChronicleLinkback:
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