ATHENS – Eight distinguished Greek nationals living abroad on Thursday received the first “Argo” prizes in a ceremony held at the Athens Concert Hall on Thursday evening, under the aegis and in the presence of President of the Hellenic Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos.

The Argo prizes were introduced to help the achievements of Greeks abroad become more widely known in Greece and were instituted roughly 10 months ago by the “Network of Greeks of the European Union” based in Brussels. The eight prizes will be awarded each year to outstanding Greeks who are not involved in activities that get worldwide coverage and whose achievement are therefore not known at home.

The eight individuals awarded in 2019, the inaugural year for the prizes were:

Mary Katrantzou, fashion designer (UK) – Entrepreneurship prize
Auxentios Kalagos, cardiovascular surgeon and professor (Switzerland) – Humanitarian Contribution prize
Katerina Stefanidi, Olympic medallist (US) – Sports prize
Maria Themeli, professor of medicine (Netherlands) – Innovation prize
Athena Kousteni, astronomer specialising in space exploration (France) – Science Prize
Yorgos Lanthimos, film director (US) – Culture and Arts prize
Andromache Karakatsani, Supreme Court judge (Canada) – Contribution to Public Affairs prize
Konstantin Filippou, celebrity chef (Austria) – Gastronomy prize