Teman-teman milis, Informasi ini mungkin ada gunanya terutama bagi mereka yang inovatif. Tuti The Star Monday, September 3, 2001 Rewarding enterprise By Patsy Kam THE Rolex Awards For Enterprise was established to provide financial assistance to people seeking to break new ground in areas that advance human knowledge and well-being. Aimed at fostering a spirit of enterprise around the world, the Rolex Awards recognises pioneering concepts and innovative thought by giving individuals the means to achieve an important undertaking. Created in 1976, it funds both new and ongoing work. First launched in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the Rolex Oyster, five outstanding individuals receive US$50,000 (RM190,000), while 10 Associate Laureates or runners-up get US$10,000 (RM38,000) each time. The awards have been given out on nine occasions. As of year 2000, five individuals with the most exceptional projects now get US$75,000 (RM285,000) and a solid gold Rolex chronometer as well as an invitation to an official awards ceremony in New York. Five other individuals are awarded Associate Laureate prizes of US$25,000 (RM95,000) and a steel and gold Rolex chronometer. The monetary awards are intended for the completion of a project and winners must use the funds for their pioneering work. Past recipients of these awards have ranged from a taxi driver and a housewife to plastic surgeons and theoretical physicists. A Malaysian agronomist, Dr Bobby Tee, received an award in 1984. Last year's recipients were Nigerian teacher Mohammed Bah Abba who created a kind of "desert refrigerator" that helps subsistence farmers by reducing food spoilage and waste; French anthropologist and ethno-pharmacologist Laurent Pordie who set up a programme called Traditional Medicine for Survival to help educate individuals from Amchi families in the Himalayas and set up banks of medicinal drugs and former nurse Maria Eliza Manteca Onate who established a successful nature reserve on the Cerro Golondrinas. The others were Canadian-American palaeontologist Elizabeth Nicholls who is in the process of recovering a gigantic marine reptile fossil known as an ichthyosaur, and American teacher and carpenter David Schweidenback who founded Pedals for Progress, a non-profit organisation that collects discarded bikes in the United States and ships them to developing countries where they are repaired and sold at a low price. One of last year's Associate Laureates is French speleologist Luc-Henri Fage who intends to use his prize money for his ninth expedition to Kalimantan in the hopes of arresting further damage to the cave art found in the caves there. Rolex is now accepting applications for the 2002 awards , the 10th in the series of this biennial awards programme. Enterprising individuals from around the globe are to submit innovative working projects in one of five areas of human endeavour: science and medicine, technology and innovation, exploration and discovery, the environment and cultural heritage. Candidates are required to develop and present a working project and demonstrate how it is practicable. An independent selection panel will judge these initiatives based on their originality, feasibility, potential impact and above all, whether the applicant demonstrates a spirit of enterprise. All projects must result in the betterment of mankind. Prospective entrants can obtain further information on the Rolex Awards or access an Official Application Form through the Rolex Awards for Enterprise website (www.rolex awards.com) or by writing to the Rolex Awards Secretariat, P.O. Box 1311, 1211 Geneva 26, Switzerland. The entry deadline for Asia and the Pacific is Oct 31. The winners will be announced in October 2002. ***************** ---- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
