The In­ter-Amer­i­can De­vel­op­ment Bank (IDB) is invit­ing nom­i­na­tions for the Jusceli­no Ku­bitschek Award of Mer­it to recog­nise re­gion­al best prac­tices and lead­ing in­sti­tu­tions which are pro­mot­ing eco­nom­ic and so­cial de­vel­op­ment in Latin Amer­i­ca and the Caribbean. The Ku­bitschek Award high­lights out­stand­ing work and ex­tra­or­di­nary com­mit­ment to­ward elim­i­nat­ing pover­ty and bring­ing greater eco­nom­ic op­por­tu­ni­ty to the re­gion.

Jusceli­no Ku­bitschek was a for­ward-think­ing politi­cian who served as pres­i­dent of Brazil from 1956-1961. He cre­at­ed high-im­pact ini­tia­tives that im­proved eco­nom­ic de­vel­op­ment in Latin Amer­i­ca and the Caribbean.No­tably, pres­i­dent Ku­bitschek was among the lead­ers who pro­posed es­tab­lish­ment of the world's first mul­ti­lat­er­al de­vel­op­ment in­sti­tu­tion in the re­gion, the IDB, in 1959.The IDB has since be­come the lead­ing source of long-term de­vel­op­ment fi­nanc­ing for the re­gion.

IDB pres­i­dent Luis Al­ber­to Moreno marked the bank's 50th an­niver­sary in 2009 by es­tab­lish­ing the award to ho­n­our Ku­bitschek's lega­cy. The most re­cent re­cip­i­ents of the Ku­bitschek Award were ho­n­oured dur­ing the an­nu­al meet­ing of the IDB's Board of Gov­er­nors in Mon­te­v­ideo, Uruguay in March 2012. The prize for eco­nom­ics and fi­nance went to the Cen­ter for the Im­ple­men­ta­tion of Pub­lic Poli­cies for Eq­ui­ty and Growth of Ar­genti­na and the Sal­vado­ran Foun­da­tion for Eco­nom­ic and So­cial De­vel­op­ment.

The so­cial, cul­tur­al and sci­en­tif­ic cat­e­go­ry prize went to the Mex­i­can In­sti­tute for Re­search on Fam­i­ly and Pop­u­la­tion and the Sale­sian Project for the Street Chil­dren of Ecuador.In the 2013 call for nom­i­nees, IDB is seek­ing in­no­va­tors in fields of eco­nom­ics and fi­nance, as well as from the so­cial, cul­tur­al, and sci­en­tif­ic ar­eas, to re­ceive $100,000 in prizes. Pro­pos­als may be sub­mit­ted on­line through the IDB Web site www.iadb.org/jk

In­di­vid­u­als and in­sti­tu­tions can make nom­i­na­tions by in­clud­ing a de­tailed de­scrip­tion of con­tri­bu­tions and ef­forts on a form avail­able on the IDB Web site.The dead­line for the Ku­bitschek Award nom­i­na­tions is June 17, 2013.