2018 Erasmus Prize Awarded To Barbara Ehrenreich

WASHINGTON, March 1, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Acclaimed journalist Barbara Ehrenreich, 76, has been awarded the 2018 Erasmus Prize. The annual prize, which includes a € 150,000 in prize money, is given by The Praemium Erasmianum Foundation to a person or an institution that has made an exceptional contribution to the humanities, the social sciences or the arts. His Majesty, King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, will present Ehrenreich with the award at the Royal Palace in Amsterdam on November 27, 2018.

In a statement, the Foundation praised Ehrenreich for her courage in putting herself on the line in her journalistic work. By leading the life of people in precarious situations, she gives a voice to groups in society that would otherwise remain unheard, and she lets us see life as people on the underside of society live it.  A major voice in the current debate surrounding the search for truth, she is an advocate of critical thinking and fact finding. Motivated by empathy and social engagement, she brings statistical data to life—for example concerning conditions at the bottom of the labor market. In doing so she embodies the Erasmian ideals championed by the Foundation.

The Foundation will organize a varied program of events about Ehrenreich and "The Power of Investigative Journalism," this year's theme.

"I'm proud… and kind of overwhelmed by the Dutch—and I'm not just saying this because I want to apply for asylum," said Ehrenreich at The National Press Club.  

About Barbara Ehrenreich

Barbara Ehrenreich's international breakthrough came in 2001 with her book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, for which she spent months trying to survive on her earnings from what society calls 'unskilled work'. In her subsequent work she often applied this technique of 'immersion journalism', as it is now known, for instance to highlight the obstacles encountered by the American middle class in scaling the social ladder. Ehrenreich also founded the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, a journalism nonprofit that examines inequality in America, in 2012.

For further information please contact Dr. Shanti van Dam, director of the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation. Tel. 020-6752753 or 0031-653134878
E-mail [email protected] 
Website www.erasmusprize.org

SOURCE The Praemium Erasmianum Foundation