This year, the Calouste Gulbenkian Prize, worth €100,000, is focused on strengthening democracy in the digital era. The prize is awarded to individuals or collective entities that have stood out internationally for defending human rights.

As in past years, the national prizes are also made for the areas of Cohesion, Sustainability and Knowledge, woth €50,000 each. Candidates may make their own applications or be nominated by third parties, whether institutions or individuals whenever the latter are not in representation of collective entities.

In the Cohesion field, the theme under focus is Violence against the most vulnerable groups of society, specifically domestic violence against children, young persons and the elderly. In turn, the Circular economy is the focus of the Gulbenkian Sustainability prize while the Knowledge prize considers applications related to Learning technologies. The decision to award these prizes is, as usual, the responsibility of the Foundation Board of Directors based on the proposals of the two juries established for this purpose.

The international jury is chaired by Jorge Sampaio while the national jury is presided over by António M. Feijó.

The submission and justification of candidacies takes place exclusively online through to 5 May. The Prize award ceremony takes place on 19 July within the scope of commemorations of Calouste Gulbenkian Day.