Wikipedia 2015 Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation

At its meeting in Oviedo, the Jury for the 2015 Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation, composed of Enrique Barón Crespo, Eugenia Bieto Caubet, Rosa María Calaf Solé, Pedro Duque Duque, Gloria Fernández-Lomana García, Enrique Fernández-Miranda y Lozana, Duke of Fernández-Miranda, Anna Ferrer, Emilio Lamo de Espinosa Michels de Champourcin, Jerónimo López Martínez, Ricardo Martí Fluxá, Rafael Matesanz Acedos, Jaime Montalvo Correa, Juan Carlos del Olmo Castillejos, Marcelino Oreja Aguirre, Marquis of Oreja, Francisco Pinto Balsemão, Alfonso de la Rosa Morena, chaired by Gustavo Suárez Pertierra and with Alicia Castro Masaveu acting as secretary, has decided to confer the 2015 Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation on Wikipedia, the open-access digital encyclopedia created in 2001 by American Jimmy Wales.

Figuring among the ten most visited websites in the world, Wikipedia has grown continuously to offer more than 37 million articles in 288 languages, including a number of indigenous languages. The Jury has valued this important example of international, democratic, open and participatory cooperation −to which thousands of people of all nationalities contribute selflessly− that has managed to make universal knowledge available to everyone along similar lines to those achieved by the encyclopedic spirit of the 18th century.

Oviedo, 17th June 2015