Ethiopian Wins Prestigious Rolex Award

Geneva, Switzerland, 19 April 2010 – Bruktawit Tigabu, co-creator of the popular television show “Tsehai Loves Learning,” has been selected as a winner of Rolex’s Young Laureates Award. Chosen from a pool of nearly 200 nominees worldwide by an international jury of experts, Bruktawit was among five outstanding social entrepreneurs who impressed the judging panel with their passion and conviction to overcome challenges facing our planet. Along with Bruktawit of Ethiopia, fellow Young Laureates from India, Nigeria, the Philippines and the United States were introduced at a press conference held by Rolex this week in Geneva. To find exceptional young pioneers, Rolex invited a range of institutions, organizations and individuals worldwide to nominate potential candidates. A rigorous screening process followed, in which the candidates’ projects are examined in detail to choose those that best meet the criteria. Rolex staff, along with a former Laureate or Jury member, interviewed these applicants. Finally, an independent jury of experts selected the five Young Laureates.

An expansion of the long-standing Rolex Awards for Enterprise, the Young Laureates Programme honours men and women between the ages of 18 and 30 with inventive ideas. Each Young Laureate will receive US$50,000 over the course of two years. During the first year, funding of $25,000 each will give the recipients time to focus on their pioneering projects, while the second instalment will help them move forward in implementing them. The Rolex Awards international network of innovators, comprised mainly of former Laureates, is available for guidance and to help the winners take the projects to another stage.

Quick to share recognition for her award, Bruktawit gave thanks to “the dedicated Tsehai team and many volunteers, as well as the UNESCO Ethiopia office, who foresaw the potential of this project from the beginning and have consistently helped build the capacity of our programme.”

Bruktawit plans to use the award money to tackle pressing health issues. “Most death of children under 5 in Ethiopia is preventable,” said Bruktawit. “With the help of our popular children’s character ‘Tsehai’ I hope to educate children and parents on the causes, prevention, and treatment of such killers as diarrhea and malaria. We’ll use animation to make these concepts easy to understand, and songs to make the messages stick.” Proceeds from the Rolex award will also be used to conduct an impact study aimed at determining if the episodes result in a decline in child mortality. The Ministry of Health is currently working with Bruktawit’s production company Whiz Kids Workshop to identify which health issues will be showcased on “Tsehai Loves Learning.”

“Rolex is delighted to support these exceptional young men and women who represent the best of their generation,” said Rebecca Irvin, director of philanthropy at Rolex. “In tackling the problems that face humanity, they do not think in traditional ways or stick to old ideas. Their innovative projects have begun to have a profound effect on their own communities, and potentially could improve the lives of millions of people.”

Whiz Kids Workshop is an Ethiopian production company that focuses on serving children through educational mass media.

For further information, please visit www.tsehai.com