Nelson Mandela Awards and Nobel Peace Prize
Nelson Mandela has received more than hundred awards over the four decades for his efforts and services to not only his nation but for people across the world. The most prestigious among all the awards he received was the Nobel Peace Prize that he was awarded in 1993.
Even now, after his retirement from politics and public life, he is a celebrated elder member or an elder statesman of his clan and continues to give his opinion on topical issues. In South Africa, he is commonly known as Madiba, an honorary title that is adopted by the elders of Mandela clan. However, this title has come to life with Nelson Mandela and he is now commonly referred as Madiba.
Nelson Mandela not only received countless awards and honors from his own country but has been bestowed with numerous foreign and international awards too. Then he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 that he shared with Frederik Willem de Klerk. Apart from this, he received the Order of Merit and the Order of St. John from Queen Elizabeth II and the Presidential Medal of Freedom from George W. Bush. In July 2004, the city of Johannesburg bestowed its highest honor on Mandela by granting him the Freedom of the City at a ceremony in Orlando, Soweto.
In 1998, as a result of his fame and popularity, he was greeted by 45,000school children in Canada at a speaking engagement in the SkyDome in Toronto, while on his tour, who praised him lavishly for his efforts. By 2001, Nelson Mandela was the first living person who was given honorary citizenship of Canada. During his tour of Canada, he was also made an honorary companion of the Order of Canada and he remains one of the very few foreigners who have yet received this highest honor bestowed by the Canadian government.
In 1990, Nelson Mandela was also awarded with the Bharat Ratna Award by the government of India due to his efforts and services to his nation as well as people all over the world. It was in 1992 that he received the Atatürk Peace Award by Turkey. Although he first refused the award that cited human rights violations committed by Turkey at that time, yet he accepted that award in 1999.
The number of awards and high honors presented to him clearly show the extent to which Nelson Mandela is admired all over the world and appreciated for his zeal, love of freedom and for speaking his mind when talking about the rights of poor and discriminated people.
