Broadcast journalist and documentary filmmaker Shehzad Hameed Ahmad from Pakistan has won the Prince of Asturias Award — Spain’s equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize — for his work during Fulbright scholarship which also included a documentary ‘The Pakistan Four’.
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Ahmad received the award from the King of Spain Prince Philipe on behalf of the Fulbright Global Program for International Cooperation. Nelson Mandela, the revered icon of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, had also been a recipient of the Prince of Asturias Award in 1992.
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Ahmad’s documentary was also the recipient of the best documentary award at the Indiana Short Film Festival 2014. The film is in the running at the Seattle South Asian Film Festival as well. The Seattle South Film Festival would also see other Pakistani films ‘Anima State’ and ‘Without Shepherds’ tying for an award.
The Prince of Asturias Foundation has been convening the Prince of Asturias Awards since 1981. The awards are presented at an academic ceremony held each year in Oviedo, the capital of the Principality of Asturias.
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The aim of the foundation is to consolidate the existing links between the Principality and the person who bears the title of Prince or Princess of Asturias — a title which corresponds to the heir to the Spanish throne — and to contribute to promoting the scientific, cultural and humanistic values that form part of mankind’s universal heritage. -dawn
