The award ceremony for the Ho-Am Prize, often referred to as the Korean equivalent of the Nobel Prize, was held at the Ho-Am Art Hall in Seoul on Wednesday.

Named after the penname of Samsung Group’s late founder Lee Byung-chull, the annual event has honored a group of Koreans and foreign nationals for their contribution to enhancing science, culture and welfare of mankind.

This year’s six recipients include: Kim Myung-sik, professor at Imperial College of London; Oh Joon-ho, professor at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology; Larry Kwak, director of the Toni Stephenson Lymphoma Center at City of Hope Hospital in Los Angeles; poet Hwang Dong-kyu; and Kim Hyun-soo and Cho Soon-sil, cochairmen of Wahaha, a charitable organization helping young students. 

Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong presided over the event in place of his ailing father, chairman Lee Kun-hee. The chairman created the prize 26 years ago in memory of his father and group founder, and took great care in organizing the award ceremony.

The event was previously followed by a banquet at the Samsung-affiliated Hotel Shilla, but this year for the first time a concert was held at the company’s Human Resources Development Center in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province instead.

The recipients, their families and Samsung employees were invited to the concert where top artists like pianist Cho Seong-jin and pansori singer Ahn Sook-sun took to the stage.

A total of 38 experts and academicians, including Israeli Nobel laureate scientist Dan Shechtman, participated in this year’s evaluation committee, while a 37-member advisory group reviewed the whole process.

Each winner received 300 million won ($250,000) in prize money.


By Lee Ji-yoon
(jylee@heraldcorp.com)