José Vasconcelos World Award of Education 2004
Field of Work: Brodcasting – Education
Date: 08 November 2004
Place of Ceremony: Amphithéâtres de l’Europe
Host Institution: University of Liège
Host Country: Liège, Belgium
LIEGE, BELGIUM. NOVEMBER 2004. The World Cultural Council presented the 2004 José Vasconcelos World Award of Education to Sir David Attenborough, distinguished British naturalist, filmmaker, television producer and author. The Award Ceremony took place in Liège, Belgium with the host of the University of Liège, on November 8th 2004.
The Jose Vasconcelos World Award of Education has been established as an acknowledgement to those who have the all important labor of teaching, underlying basis for our present civilization.
Sir Attenborough was selected as the recipient of the Award in recognition of his valuable and pioneering contributions in the field of broadcasting-education through a distinguished career over 50 years with worldwide impact. His work as British producer and host media executive led him to be granted several honorary degrees and a number of prestigious awards.
He is now universally acknowledged as the world´s foremost naturalist and broadcaster. His script-writing skills successfully convey complex subjects into film sequences that are concise and easily understood by the millions who avidly watch his programmes.
Sir David Attenborough was born in London, UK in 1926. Attenborough was making television documentaries in the 1950´s; he joined the BBC´s fledgling television service in 1952, fronting Zoo Quest, the breakthrough wildlife series that established the international reputation of the BBC Natural History Unit at Bristol. He conceived the idea of a TV series based on animals in their natural habitats.
He is now universally acknowledged as the world´s foremost naturalist and broadcaster. His script-writing skills successfully convey complex subjects into film sequences that are concise and easily understood by the millions who avidly watch his programmes.
In 1985, Sir David Attenborough was knighted. He is Fellow of the British Academy of Film and television Arts; Royal Society and the Royal College of Physicians and Trustee of the British Museum, and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and President of the Royal Society for Nature Conservation.
With his remarkable trajectory promoting the conservation of the natural world, it is very well known that Sir David Attenborough´s main concern is education; this has been behind the driving force behind every endeavor accomplished by his energy and enthusiasm, in his tireless work “to entertain, educate and inform” values that have been advocated by the founder of the BBC, Lord Reith.
