Nominations for the prestigious award were received from 496 organizations in 28 Latin American, Caribbean, and European countries 

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) announced today that three institutions from Barbados, Brazil, and Nicaragua won the Juscelino Kubitschek Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions in economics and finance, and social, cultural, and scientific achievement. 

Brazil’s Associação de Ballet e Artes para Cegos and Instituto Nicaragüense de Cultura Hispánica from Nicaragua won in the Social, Cultural, and Scientific category, for which 388 nominations were received. In the Economics and Finance category, 108 proposals were submitted, and the award went to the Caribbean Center of Excellence for Youth Entrepreneurship from Barbados. 

The announcement of the winners was the responsibility of the selection committee for the award, named after a Brazilian president who led his country and inspired the foundation of the IDB, the world’s first regional development bank. 

The decision to select the winner in the economics and finance category was based on projects promoting youth entrepreneurship. In the second category, the committee considered cultural and social strengthening and promotion activities. 

The third edition of the award, presented every two years, attracted 496 nominations, representing organizations in 28 countries in the Americas and Europe. For each category, there is a prize of $100,000. When there is more than one winner per category, the award is divided equally. The awards ceremony will be held in March in Bahia, Brazil, during the Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the IDB. 

Chaired by IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno, the selection committee met in Washington on 18 and 19 November. Ibero-American Secretary-General Enrique V. Iglesias served as secretary of the committee. This year’s committee members were former President of Ecuador, Osvaldo Hurtado; former Governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson; current Governor of the Bank of Spain, Luis Maria Linde; former United Nations diplomat, Paulo Pinheiro; Chief Executive of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Hiroshi Watanabe; former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Barbados, Billie Miller; Mexican writer, Angeles Mastretta; Nicaraguan writer, Gioconda Belli; and from Colombia, analyst on the Advisory Board of the Avina Foundation, Bernardo Toro. 

About the winners 

Associação de Ballet e Artes para Cegos, Brazil
Instituto Nicaragüense de Cultura Hispánica, Nicaragua
Caribbean Center of Excellence for Youth Entrepreneurship, Barbados 

On this occasion, the selection committee decided to award honorable mentions to four organizations in recognition of the excellence of their work. The honorable mentions in the economics and finance category were awarded to Serviço Brasileiro de Apoio às Micro e Pequenas Empresas (Brazil) and Consorcio de Investigación Económica y Social (Peru). In the social, cultural, and scientific category, they went to Comitê para Democratização da Informática (Brazil) and Cauce Ciudadano (Mexico).