Representatives from the recipient groups of this year's UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize on Sept. 8 pose for a group photo at the awards ceremony in San Juan Chamula, Mexico. (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism)

By Koh Hyunjeong

Organizations from Colombia, the Netherlands and Nigeria are the three winners of this year's UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Sept. 9 said the three received the honor at the awards ceremony the day before in San Juan Chamula, Mexico.

To mark International Literacy Day (Sept. 8), which UNESCO designated in 1965, UNESCO presents the annual honor to individuals and organizations that have contributed to eradicating illiteracy. The ministry has supported the prize since its launch in 1989 to honor King Sejong the Great's spirit in creating Hangeul, the Korean alphabet, and help global efforts to allow everyone to read.

Colombia's BibloRed, one of this year's recipients, was recognized for its contributions to multilingual literacy education for marginalized communities and the preservation and revival of their native languages through its Escuelas LEO program.

The Amsterdam-based Rutu Foundation for Intercultural Multilingual Education won for developing a multilingual and inclusive education model that uses the mother tongues of students as learning resources under its Language-Friendly Schools program

And Nigeria's Waer Waters Charity Foundation was cited for reducing educational disparity through its Project PAL (Project for Accelerating Literacy), which helps underserved children through solar-powered learning spaces known as Literacy Hubs.

The ministry pledged to keep raising its cooperation with UNESCO so that people worldwide can communicate with one another through the written word.

hjkoh@korea.kr