The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO’s) Member States are invited to submit projects and programmes for the 2008 UNESCO International Literacy Prizes. The theme is “Literacy and Health”, with the accent on epidemics, in keeping with the United Nations Literacy Decade’s focus for 2007-2008. The prizes will reward work that tackles disease prevention, care, and treatment through literacy with a strong emphasis on the world's major public health concerns such as HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. This year’s UNESCO’s International Literacy Prizes consist of four awards, with a total value of US$80,000. UNESCO will award the prizes in a ceremony on International Literacy Day, September 8 2008.

Current UNESCO International Literacy Prizes:

• The UNESCO International Reading Association Literacy Prize Supporting literacy for all
• The UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize Supporting literacy in multilingual contexts
• The UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy Supporting literacy in rural areas

The deadline for application is June 25 2008.

Applications must be made by national governments or international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) maintaining formal or operational relations with UNESCO. The prizes are open to institutions, organisations, or individuals displaying outstanding merit and achieving particularly effective results in adult literacy and post-literacy activities and their integration into basic education programmes.


Click here for more information.

Click here to read about previous winners.