Bangladeshi, among seven winners of 2010 Ramon Magsaysay Award

(Aug.042010) Among the seven winners of the Ramon Magsaysay Awards this year, one is from Bangladesh. The announcement was made by the Board of Trustees of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF) on Tuesday. It said that that this year seven individuals – one each from Bangladesh and Japan, three from China, and a couple from the Philippines will receive Asia's premier prize, the Ramon Magsaysay Award.
The Magsaysay Award winner from Bangladesh is A.H.M. Noman Khan. He is being recognized for "his pioneering leadership in mainstreaming persons with disabilities in the development process of Bangladesh, and in working vigorously with all sectors to build a society that is truly inclusive and barrier-free."
The couple from the Philippines is Christopher Bernido and Maria Victoria Carpio-Bernido. They are being recognized for "their purposeful commitment to both science and nation, ensuring innovative, low-cost, and effective basic education even under Philippine conditions of great scarcity and daunting poverty."
From China, one of the three winners is Huo Daishan, who is being recognized for "his selfless and unrelenting efforts to save China's great river Huai”. The other two are Pan Yue and Fu Qiping. They are being recognized for their “exemplary vision and zeal in advocating inseparability of development and the environment, in uplifting the lives of the Chinese people”
The Magsaysay award winner from Japan is Tadatoshi Akiba. He is being recognized for "his principled and determined leadership in a sustained global campaign to mobilize citizens, pressure governments, and build the political will to create a world free from the perils of nuclear war."
Established in 1957, the Ramon Magsaysay Award is Asia's highest honour and is widely regarded as the region's equivalent of the Nobel Prize. It celebrates the memory and leadership example of the third Philippine President, and is given every year to individuals or organizations in Asia, who manifest the same sense of selfless service that ruled the life of the late and beloved Filipino leader.
The seven 2010 Magsaysay awardees join 277 other laureates who have received Asia's highest honour to date. This year's Magsaysay Award winners will each receive a certificate, a medallion bearing the likeness of the late President, and a cash prize. They will be formally conferred the Magsaysay Award during the Presentation Ceremonies to be held on 31 August 2010 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines..