A New Zealand peace activist is one of three people who have won Right Livelihood Awards, also known as the "alternative Nobel".
The 50,000 euros ($NZ68,870) prize will be presented to Tauranga-born Alyn Ware, 47, in Stockholm on December 4, six days before the Nobel Prizes are handed out.
It will recognise Mr Ware's "effective and creative advocacy and initiatives over two decades to further peace education and to rid the world of nuclear weapons".
Mr Ware told NZPA tonight from New York that he was very honoured by the award.
"I'm very happy and I think it's a tribute to the wonderful people that I'm working with on a number of projects for peace and disarmament," he said.
"I think they've given it to me because I'm working with a number of projects that are advancing peace education in schools and the community, and working on the practical ways to achieve the elimination of nuclear weapons."
Mr Ware is currently director of the Peace Foundation Wellington Office (Aotearoa-New Zealand), global coordinator of the Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament network, director of Aotearoa Lawyers for Peace, and a consultant at large for the Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy (USA) and the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms.
He was the United Nations coordinator for the World Court Project, which led the effort to achieve a ruling from the International Court of Justice on the legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons.
Mr Ware was also one of the coordinators for the drafting of a model treaty on the abolition of nuclear weapons (Nuclear Weapons Convention) which has been circulated by the United Nations.
He is a Member of the New Zealand Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament and Arms Control. In 1986 he was awarded the UN International Year of Peace (New Zealand) prize in honour of his peace education work.
Two other people will also receive 50,000 euro awards.
Congolese activist Rene Ngongois is being honoured for "his courage in confronting the forces that are destroying the Congo's rainforests and building political support for their conservation and sustainable use".
Australian-born Catherine Hamlin, who is based in Ethiopia, has spent 50 years treating obstetric fistula patients, "thereby restoring the health, hope and dignity of thousands of Africa's poorest women".
The honorary award, which carries no cash prize, will go to David Suzuki of Canada "for his lifetime advocacy of the socially responsible use of science, and for his massive contribution to raising awareness about the perils of climate change and building public support for policies to address it".
Swedish-German philanthropist Jakob von Uexkull founded the awards in 1980 to recognise work he felt was being ignored by the Nobel Prizes, The Associated Press reported.
