Charlemagne Award - Definition and Overview

The Karlspreis (Engl.: International Charlemagne Prize of the city of Aachen) has been awarded once a year since 1950 by the German city of Aachen to people who contributed to the European idea and European peace. It is commemorating Charlemagne, ruler of what is today France and Germany, who resided and is buried at Aachen. Traditionally the award is given to the recipient on the Ascension holiday in a ceremony in the town hall of Aachen.

Past recipients of the award include

• 1950 Richard Nikolaus Graf Coudenhove-Kalergi
• 1951 Hendrik Brugmans
• 1952 Alcide de Gasperi
• 1953 Jean Monnet
• 1954 Konrad Adenauer
• 1956 Sir Winston S. Churchill
• 1957 Paul Henri Spaak
• 1958 Robert Schuman
• 1959 George C. Marshall
• 1960 Joseph Bech
• 1961 Walter Hallstein
• 1963 Edward Heath
• 1964 Antonio Segni
• 1966 Jens Otto Krag
• 1967 Joseph Luns
• 1969 The European Commission
• 1970 François Seydoux de Clausonne
• 1972 Roy Jenkins
• 1973 Don Salvador de Madariaga
• 1976 Leo Tindemans
• 1977 Walter Scheel
• 1978 Konstantin Karamanlis
• 1979 Emilio Colombo
• 1981 Simone Veil
• 1982 King Juan Carlos I. of Spain
• 1984 Karl Carstens
• 1986 The People of Luxembourg
• 1987 Henry A. Kissinger
• 1988 François Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl
• 1989 Frère Roger (of the Taizé Community)
• 1990 Gyula Horn
• 1991 Václav Havel
• 1992 Jacques Delors
• 1993 Felipe González Márquez
• 1994 Gro Harlem Brundtland
• 1995 Franz Vranitzky
• 1996 Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
• 1997 Roman Herzog
• 1998 Bronislaw Geremek
• 1999 Anthony (Tony) Charles Lynton Blair
• 2000 William Jefferson (Bill) Clinton
• 2001 György Konrád
• 2002 The Euro
• 2003 Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
• 2004 Pat Cox
• 2004 Extraordinary prize: Pope John Paul II
• 2005 Carlo Azeglio Ciampi

External links

• http://www.karlspreis.de/ (German)
• International Charlemagne Prize of the city of Aachen (http://www.aachen.de/EN/city_citizens/prizes_honours/charlemagne_prize/index.html)