Pittsburgh native, 4 other honorees will each receive $250,000

Tuesday, December 02, 2003

By Christopher Rawson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pittsburgh-bred playwright and poet August Wilson is one of five winners of the 10th annual Heinz Awards to be announced today by the Heinz Family Foundation.

Playwright August Wilson walks near his boyhood home in the Hill District during a visit to Pittsburgh in 1999. (Bill Wade, Post-Gazette) More on August Wilson Read background and previous Post-Gazette articles about August Wilson

The five will each receive $250,000 -- among the largest individual achievement prizes in the world -- awarded in distinct categories from arts and humanities to technology and public policy. In addition, U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., will share the foundation's Chairman's Medal, given irregularly for notable achievement. The awards will be made Thursday at a private ceremony in Pittsburgh.

Talking by phone from his home in Seattle, Wilson said the award was especially pleasing to him "because it's Pittsburgh." He remembers touring the North Side Heinz plant, "getting my little pickle," when he was in school. As with Heinz, "Pittsburgh's a big part of me, too," he said.

"Each of these seven extraordinary individuals has made important and lasting contributions toward enhancing the health, security and understanding of our global home, and we are pleased to recognize the enduring significance of their life's work," said Teresa Heinz, chairman of the foundation.

Heinz, now the wife of U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., established the Heinz Awards in 1993 to sustain the legacy of her then-husband, late U.S. Sen. John Heinz, who died in 1991. They recognize exceptional leadership and accomplishment in areas of particular interest to the late senator, principally the environment and conservation, women, human services, education and the arts.

The honorees and their accomplishments, as described by the foundation:

Arts and Humanities: August Wilson, author of nine plays that dramatize with humor and passion the struggles of African-Americans in different decades of the 20th century. All but one play are set in Pittsburgh, drawing on Wilson's experience here until he moved, at age 33, first to St. Paul and then Seattle. Wilson also has become an important spokesman for black theater.

Environment: Peggy M. Shepard, environmental advocate, community leader, author and founder and executive director of West Harlem Environmental Action.

Human Condition: Robert N. Butler, M.D., gerontologist, psychiatrist, author and president and CEO of New York's International Longevity Center. A champion for the nation's aging, Butler coined the term "ageism" and founded both the National Institute on Aging and the nation's first department of geriatrics.

Public Policy: Julius B. Richmond, M.D., pediatrician, researcher and professor of Health Policy, emeritus, Harvard University. A pediatrician, Richmond was U.S. surgeon general under President Carter, one of the founders and first director of Head Start and first director of the Community Health Centers program.

Technology, the Economy and Employment: Robert S. Langer, Sc.D., medical researcher, inventor and professor of chemical and biomedical engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A medical pioneer who also is an engineer, Langer has launched an entirely new field of medical exploration having to do with the controlled release of proteins and other drugs.

Chairman's Medal (shared): Richard G. Lugar and Sam Nunn, respectively United States senator from Indiana and co-chairman/chief executive officer, Nuclear Threat Initiative. In 1991, the then-senators created the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, forging a bipartisan congressional coalition to authorize $500 million to dismantle Soviet weaponry.

As to awards,Wilson says "they're useful; they empower you; they add fuel to the fire." His Tony Award, two Pulitzer Prizes and many others have helped validate his achievements. But he says he learned to treat all awards as equal after sending a stand-in to accept the Theater of Renewal award for his first Broadway play, "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom." Wilson says he thought, "that's nice," and threw the four-inch medal in a box fully expecting other, more prestigious prizes to follow.

Then the Pulitzer committee didn't call, nor the Tonys. Now, that Theater of Renewal award is the only one he keeps on his desk: "It's a reminder to keep your feet on the ground," he says.

In addition to the $250,000, recipients of the Heinz Award receive a medallion inscribed with the image of Sen. Heinz, designed by his oldest son, John Heinz IV.

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