Frederik & Mary award their Culture Prize

Tonight the Crown Prince Couple have awarded their annual Culture Prize at the Opera House in Copenhagen. At this awards and concert evening, the couple honour the work of idividuals and humanitarian organisations with large donations. This year Danish actress Sonja Richter and the charity organisation Ventilen have been awarded the prize. See the Danish Crown Prince Couple's Award for the details of how the funds for this award come from a wedding present to Mary and Frederik from the Bikuben Foundation and its history since 2004.



Crown Princess Mary's speech (in Danish)
Crown Prince Frederik's speech (in Danish)

Crown Prince Couple's Culture Prize (in English)
Sonja Richter fik kongelig kulturpris DR1 article in Danish
Ventilen.dk (Danish)
Bikuben Foundation (Danish)

Frederik og Mary gav pris til Sonja Richter TV2 article in Danish (Frederik and Mary give prize to Sonja Richter)
Kronprinsparrets kulturpris til Sonja Richter B.T. article in Danish

Madeleine Glindorf's gallery (15 photos)
Søren Steffen's gallery (53 photos)
B.T. photo gallery

From The Copenhagen Post:

Royal awards recognise actress
24 September 2007
For the third year running, the crown prince and princess have awarded the cream of Danish culture.
Actress Sonja Richter joined the ranks of internationally-recognised Danish artists like Olafur Eliasson and Per Fly on Sunday evening as she received the royal couple’s third annual Culture Prize.
Ricther, 33, enjoyed her breakthrough in the 2002 Susanne Bier movie ‘Open Hearts’, and has since showed her versatility, performing on the small and silver screen as well as the stage in a wide range of roles.
Presenting the DKK 500,000 (EUR 67,000) award, Crown Prince Frederik praised Richter's ‘incredible ability to reach out to the audience and touch us with an inexplicable strength that opens a path directly into the human mind’.
Referring to a recurring dream Richter's character has in which she envisions herself invisible on top of a massive diamond that reflects the audience’s emotions, the crown prince called Richter a ‘diamond girl who has just begun to shine’.
In addition to recognising an artist for their work, the royal couple also donates DKK 250,000 to a humanitarian organisation. For the third year running the award went to a charity that helps children.
Crown Princess Mary presented the award to Ventilen, a group that helps to build self-esteem. The organisation’s name is a play on the Danish words for ‘vent’ and ‘a friend to someone’.
The previous winners of the award were Save the Children for its anti-bullying programme, and the Danish Christmas Seal organisation for its on-going effort to prevent child obesity.CP