Yerevan /Mediamax/. Co-founder of the Ideas for Development of Armenia (IDeA) Foundation Ruben Vardanyan has stated that the preparations for the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity award, scheduled for June 8-10, are underway.
Vardanyan has noted that this year the events will be organized “in a different way and at a different place” at the press briefing after the meeting with students of American University of Armenia on March 20.
“We have a long way to go. The most intriguing challenge is that the scale of this initiative is growing faster than we expected. We received 500 exceptional stories this year, which is five times more than we got for the inaugural award. Selection of the stories is a tough job, but we have a team of exceptional people, who do that work earnestly,” said Ruben Vardanyan.
He has noted that another challenge is expanding the geography of the initiative, as events were organized in recent months not only in Yerevan, but also in New York and Berlin. More events are to come in Moscow and London.
“We always ask ourselves how stable this movement is and how large it can become. On the other hand, we try to give the people in Armenia the correct understanding of the idea of Aurora. I hope we will have many volunteers this year as well,” said Ruben Vardanyan.
According to Vardanyan, they launched the Aurora Prize at the right moment, when the people of Syria found themselves in a position similar to Armenians 100 years ago:
“It is extremely important to speak about human values, about staying human in hard circumstances. We still have a long way ahead of us. The most difficult thing is to change the mentality of people.”
IDeA co-founder Veronika Zonabend has touched on the Aurora and Scholae Mundi Armenia joint scholarships for the citizens of Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt studying at the American University of Armenia.
She has noted that the scholarship fund (USD 1m) will now be available to students from Iran and Georgia as well.
Veronika Zonabend has remarked that those students become Armenia’s ambassadors in their respective countries apart from enriching Armenia with their culture.
“These students bring their culture to Armenia and make our country richer. By supporting them, we pay our debt to those financially insecure families that saved and helped Armenians during the Genocide despite multiple difficulties. Now our country helps others, although it isn’t the richest,” added Ruben Vardanyan.
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