Corrado Augias, Giovanni Grasso, Roberto Andò, Flavia Lattanzi and Andrea Riccardi are among the winners of the 11th edition of the Franco Cuomo International Award 2025 which this year has the commitment to peace and human rights at the heart of the event. In a period characterized by international crises, wars and epochal changes, the eleventh edition of the Franco Cuomo International Award gives space to talents, intellectuals and artists who are committed to peace and human rights. The award, which will be held on 4 December at 3.30 pm in the Zuccari Hall of Palazzo Giustiniani in Rome, aims to valorise personalities belonging to the world of culture who, through different modes of expression, have left a fruitful mark in the contemporary world.
This year the prize for Literature and Theater goes to the writer and director Ruggero Cappuccio, to the journalist and playwright, to Giovanni Grasso, press advisor to the President of the Republic, to the director Simone Migliorini, creator of the International Roman Theater Festival of Volterra which brought ‘Una notte di Casanova’ by Franco Cuomo to the stage in 2025 and to the Palestinian writer Hanin Soufan for the social commitment and literary quality of her book ‘Le anime invincibles of Gaza’. The award for Entertainment goes to Roberto Andò, director of theater and cinema, artistic director of the Teatro di Napoli-Teatro Nazionale, while there are two Lifetime Achievement Awards: one for Human Rights to Flavia Lattanzi, for her commitment to the fundamental rights of the person, for her contribution to the creation of international bodies aimed at the protection of the person, as well as for her role as judge in the international criminal courts, the other to Corrado Augias for having been able to navigate with rigor and elegance the world of written and television, being one of its undisputed protagonists. The Award for Dialogue and Solidarity goes to Andrea Riccardi who founded the Community of Sant’Egidio.
And awards were also awarded to other important intellectuals who represent excellence in the fields of art, essay writing and journalism: the painter Giuseppe Salvatori for his extraordinary quality and capacity for formal synthesis between figuration and abstraction, for the complexity of his itinerary as a painter, constantly intertwined with the world of contemporary culture; the visual artist Stefano Di Stasio for the formal and aesthetic-philosophical quality of his painting, which does not stop at the surface of things or figures, but goes beyond; the journalist Emilio Casalini for having given his profession a dimension that goes beyond news, transforming it into an instrument of knowledge, civil conscience and cultural regeneration; the historian Massimo De Giuseppe, delegate of the rector for social inclusion and peace of the Iulm University of Milan, for having dealt with topics of notable importance ranging from the history of peace to third worldism, from human rights to international cooperation, from the history of Catholicism in twentieth-century modernity to the history of mentalities.
The Presidency Award, composed of Velia Iacovino and Alberto Cuomo, goes to the painter, illustrator and photographer Judith Lange for her ability to move with extraordinary freedom between different expressive languages and to Roberto Fanelli, ophthalmologist, who in the heart of Capitanata is creating a multi-specialist health center of great social value for the territory. The 2025 international award is also assigned together with the European Center for Peace and Development – University of Peace to Riccardo Petrella, economist and political scientist, one of the most authoritative voices of contemporary European thought on the issues of social justice, universal human rights, common goods and the protection of life on Earth.
Awarded in collaboration with the Association Per il Meglio della Puglia – main sponsor of the Franco Cuomo International Award, which also participates in the selection of the other winners – the new president of the Council of State Luigi Maruotti for the integrity and high value of his example; the ITS Academy Apulia Digital and its president Euclide Della Vista for the vision that points straight to the future and for the ability to combine quality, research and passion; the Municipalities of Peschici and Ischitella, virtuous examples of how sustainability can translate into development, tourism promotion and improvement of the quality of life.
The Jury, led by the Hispanicist and art critic Otello Lottini, is made up of Grazia Francescato, politician and environmentalist, Emilia Costantini, journalist of the Corriere della Sera, theater critic and writer, Paolo Acanfora, professor of contemporary history at the La Sapienza University of Rome, Samir Al Qaryouti, journalist, dean of the foreign press, columnist for France24; Piero Gambale, parliamentary official and president of the Association For the Best of Puglia. The ceremony will open with the introduction of prof. Riccardo Petrella ‘Building peace’. The journalist and presenter of Rai Tre Giampiero Marrazzo will present the event. In this edition too, the event obtained the patronage of the Senate, of the ECPD – University of Peace, of the Puglia Regional Council and of the President, of the Network of Sustainable Municipalities, of Puglia Culture, of the AICI.