Sunhak Peace Prize 2015 Awardees

Plans are in the works for the first ever Sunhak World Peace Prize Award Ceremony to be held in commemoration with the anniversary of True Father’s Seonghwa (Ascension) in August, 2015.

Kiribati President Anote Tong

Modadugu Vijay Gupta

The first winners of the Sunhak Peace Prize were announced Monday June 8, 2015 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., by academics Thomas G. Walsh, chairman of the Sunhak Peace Prize Foundation; Il-Sik Hong, chairman of the Sunhak Peace Prize Committee; and Man-Ho Kim, board member of the Sunhak Peace Prize Foundation. The winners—Kiribati President Anote Tong and Indian fisheries scientist Modadugu Vijay Gupta—will both receive $500,000, a medal, a certificate and a chance to present their activities to an audience of 1,000 world dignitaries on Aug. 28 in Seoul.

Sponsored by the Wonmo Pyeongae Foundation, the Sunhak World Peace Prize is an international award that will be given to an individual or organization who has contributed to the realization of peace for humanity in accordance with the ideals of True Parents, and whose actions have brought positive impacts to multiple nations, races, religions, and ideologies. The organizers hope to make it an annual award, and one that accomplishes three main goals:

• First, to promote the inheritance and development of the interreligious, international, and interracial ideal, and the spirit of love and service, of the True Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind.

• Second, to discover an individual, an organization or a region that has played a leading role in peace and service on the world level, and praise their efforts for humankind.

• Third, to create role models for the world who practice the peace ideal.

This year’s awardees were chosen due to their work efforts towards peace through the ocean, a providence that True Father was very passionate about. The individuals qualified to nominate either must be laureates of other international prizes, Ambassadors for Peace, or International Leadership Conference participants, or otherwise be recognized domestically or internationally. An organization that is a nominator must be an international NGO or academic organization, have won an internationally recognized award, or be a distinguished domestic or international media organization.

Once nominations have been announced, the nominees will then have their work monitored by field agents who will write a report of the legitimacy of the nomination, followed by further review by the award committee, and the final nominee selection. 

The award ceremony for the Sunhak Peace Prize will be held annually in Seoul, Korea, in order to honor, inherit and perpetuate the grand legacy of Rev. Sun Myung Moon.