Desmond Tutu - Honours

Honours

On 16 October 1984, the then Bishop Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Committee cited his "role as a unifying leader figure in the campaign to resolve the problem of apartheid in South Africa". This was seen as a gesture of support for him and The South African Council of Churches which he led at that time. In 1987 Tutu was awarded the Pacem in Terris Award. It was named after a 1963 encyclical letter by Pope John XXIII that calls upon all people of good will to secure peace among all nations. In 1992, he was awarded the Bishop John T. Walker Distinguished Humanitarian Service Award.

In June 1999, Tutu was invited to give the annual Wilberforce Lecture in Kingston upon Hull, commemorating the life and achievements of the anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce. Tutu used the occasion to praise the people of the city for their traditional support of freedom and for standing with the people of South Africa in their fight against apartheid. He was also presented with the freedom of the city.

In 1978 Tutu was awarded a fellowship of King's College London, of which he is an alumnus. He returned to King's in 2004 as Visiting Professor in Post-Conflict Studies. The Students' Union nightclub, Tutu's, is named in his honour.

In 1996 Tutu was the first recipient of the Archbishop of Canterbury's Award for Outstanding Service to the Anglican Communion, a new award created specially for him, and designated the highest possible award within the Anglican Communion, standing in precedence ahead of the previous highest award, the Cross of St Augustine, gold division.

In November 1999 Tutu was awarded an honorary doctor by the University of Fribourg

In June 1999 Tutu was elected an Honorary Fellow of Sidney Sussex College in the University of Cambridge, from which he has been awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Divinity.

In 2006 Tutu was named an honorary patron of the University Philosophical Society, Trinity College, Dublin, for his tremendous contributions to peace and discourse.

Freedom of the city awards have been conferred on Tutu in cities in Italy, Wales, England and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He has received numerous doctorates and fellowships at distinguished universities. He has been named a Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur by France; Germany has awarded him the Order of Merit Grand Cross, and he received the Sydney Peace Prize in 1999. He is also the recipient of the Gandhi Peace Prize, the King Hussein Prize and the Marion Doenhoff Prize for International Reconciliation and Understanding. In 2008, Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois proclaimed 13 May 'Desmond Tutu Day'. On his visit to Illinois, Tutu was awarded the Lincoln Leadership Prize and unveiled his portrait which will be displayed at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield.

In October 2008, Tutu received the Wallenberg Medal from the University of Michigan in recognition of his lifelong work in defence of human rights and dignity.

In November 2008, Tutu was awarded the J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding.

On 8 May 2009, Tutu was the featured speaker during Michigan State University's spring undergraduate convocation. During the commencement, an honorary doctor of humane letters degree was bestowed on Tutu. Two days later, he received an honorary doctor of divinity degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The two schools had coincidentally met in the previous month's NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, a detail not missed by Tutu.

In May 2009 Tutu was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from the University of Edinburgh. In commemoration of this event the University established the Desmond Tutu Masters' Scholarship for students from Africa to do postgraduate Master's study within the School of Divinity.

Tutu was awarded an honorary degree from Bangor University, Bangor, Wales, on 10 June 2009. During the ceremony, Tutu thanked the people of Wales for their role in helping end apartheid.

On 12 June 2009 the University of Vienna conferred the degree "Doctor Theologiae honoris causa" on Desmond Tutu. The Faculty of Protestant Theology and Senate based the decision on Tutu's outstanding achievement in developing and establishing what can be called "ubuntu-theology", his manifestation of what became known as "public theology". By integrating the principles of the South African ubuntu philosophy with his theological thinking, he made a major contribution beyond classical Liberation Theology.

Southwark Cathedral named two new varieties of rose in honour of Desmond and Leah Tutu at the 2009 RHS Flower Show at Hampton Court Palace. To celebrate the event, the Southwark Cathedral Merbecke Choir gave a concert in the presence of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and his wife Leah at Southwark Cathedral on 11 July 2009. The Archbishop joined the choir on stage for its encore – an arrangement of George Gershwin's 'Summertime'.

In 2009 he also received the Spiritual Leadership Award from the international Humanity's Team movement and the Presidential Medal of Freedom from U.S. President Barack Obama.

Tutu was inducted into the Golden Key International Honour Society as an Honorary Member in 2001, by the University of Stellenbosch.

The Archbishop was named an Honorary Chairman of Building Tomorrow's Board of Directors. Building Tomorrow engages young people in their mission to build schools for underserved children and communities in Uganda. Tutu has said, "I believe that education is the key to unlocking the door that will eradicate poverty and that young people have the power to make it happen."