The Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences announces the establishment of an annual

ANDREW ELIAS SVU HUMAN TOLERANCE AWARD

Beginning with the year of 2001, the first year of the third millennium, the Society will bestow the annual Andrew Elias SVU Human Tolerance Award on an individual whose life and work symbolize the living value of human tolerance. The Award shall be accompanied by a prize of $ 1,000.

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In its Resolution adopted at the occasion of the historic 20th World Congress held in Washington in 2000, the Society reaffirmed its resolve to work "toward enhancing the values of human tolerance and of freedom of spirit and thought."

With a sensitivity so uncommon in these times, and expressing his deep and long-held convictions, Dr. Andrew Elias has decided to sponsor , through the Society, an annual Human Tolerance Award.

In an age marked by animosities and strife among human beings around the globe, the quest for human tolerance is the fundamental imperative of this day. Without human tolerance, democracy itself decays, culture is warped, civil society becomes uncivilized.

Human tolerance cannot be decreed. It has no institutions and no structures. It either lives in men and women as their innermost value guiding their feelings and thoughts and deeds, or it does not live.

Therein lies the meaning of the Andrew Elias SVU Human Tolerance Award: to keep on reminding us that human tolerance begins in human beings, and to do so by recognizing and honoring those whose life and work have been guided by tolerance and compassion.

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Every year, one Award shall be bestowed.

In keeping with the spirit of the Andrew Elias SVU Human Tolerance Award, no criteria, such as nationality or SVU membership, shall limit the eligibility of proposed recipients. Any woman or man whose life and work reflect the ideals of human tolerance and compassion, may be proposed by any SVU member or a group of members, such as SVU Local Chapters or ad hoc groups.

The names of the proposed candidates for the Award, accompanied by adequate data and other relevant information on the life and work of the proposed candidate, should be submitted to the SVU Secretary-General no later than April 15 of the year for which the Award is to be given.

All proposals shall be forwarded to the SVU Award Nominations Committee now being formed. The Committee will evaluate the proposals and nominate one or more candidates. The Committee's recommendation(s) shall be submitted to the SVU President for the final decision by the Executive Board. The Committee may nominate two or maximum three candidates of comparable merit.

For reasons of propriety and decency too obvious to enlarge upon further, the proposals of candidates must be submitted on a confidential basis. A premature publicity of the name of the person being proposed for the Award may result in non-acceptance of the proposal.

The Award will be formally presented during the next SVU World Congress or, in the year between Congresses, at another appropriate occasion. The Award recipient shall be invited to deliver a lecture following the Award ceremony.

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