The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) won the Prince of Asturias Prize for harmony, the Prize jury told media in the Spanish city of Oviedo on Wednesday.

The jury cited Unicef's 60 years of "generous effort... for the benefit of children," and jury president Vicente Alvarez Areces, emphasized Unicef's recent efforts in Africa in fighting ignorance, poverty and illness.

Enrique Iglesias, who won the prize for international aid in 1982, put forward Unicef as a candidate.

The harmony prize is awarded to "people, groups or institutions whose work has contributed in an exemplary and relevant way to coexistence and peace between human beings; or to the fight against injustice, poverty, illness, ignorance; or to the fight for freedom."

The harmony prize was the last of the eight Asturias prizes awarded this year. This year, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation won the international aid prize, the communication and humanities prize went to the National Geographic Society, the arts prize went to filmmaker Pedro Almodovar, the scientific research prize went to Juan Ignacio Cirac, the literature prize to Paul Auster, the social science prize went to Ireland's former prime minister Mary Robinson, and the sports prize to Spain's World Championship-winning basketball team.

The prize, which was established in 1981, awards 60,000 U.S. dollars to each winner, alongside a sculpture created for the award, a diploma and an insignia.

Source: Xinhua