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Nuccio Ordine Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities 2023
![Nuccio Ordine](/resources/img/portal/2024/03/19/nuccio-ordine-premio-princesa-de-asturias-de-comunicacion-y-humanidades-trayectoria.webp)
Statement by Nuccio Ordine following the conferral of the 2023 Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities.
"It is a great honour for me to receive the Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities, an award that has a twofold sentimental value. First, because it was received before me by three giants of European culture and three great friends to whom I owe a great deal, namely Umberto Eco, Emilio Lledó and George Steiner; and second, because I have considered Spain and Spanish-speaking America as my second homeland for a decade now. Here I have found many brothers in arms in the battle I am waging to defend schools and universities from the drift towards mercantilism. For these reasons, at a time when those who teach are considered obsolete because modern schools and universities would only be made up of computers and blackboards connected to the Internet, I would like to dedicate this award to those who teach and silently change their students’ lives via their sacrifices. To those who every day –in an African shack or in a poor town in Calabria or Spanish-speaking America– perform a major miracle: that of enabling poor students to make that social and cultural leap that makes our society more just and egalitarian. I take this opportunity to thank Sandra Ollo and Acantilado for having enabled my books to circulate widely in the Spanish-speaking cultural world. I will be very happy to be in Asturias in October to collect the award and visit places rich in both natural beauty and history."
Nuccio Ordine
Paris, 4th May 2023
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