UNESCO/Jikji Memory of the World 2009 Prize awarded to National Archives of Malaysia

Postcard from Singapore to Shanghai, China.

© National Archives of Malay

21-08-2009 (Paris)

On the recommendation of the Jury, the Director-General of UNESCO designated the National Archives of Malaysia as the winner of the UNESCO/Jikji Memory of the World Prize for 2009.

The Archives will be presented with its award of $30,000 on Jikji Day, 4 September 2009, in Cheongju City, Republic of Korea.

The National Archives of Malaysia was selected by the Jury in recognition of its outreach, educational and training programmes in the area of preservation within the Asian region. The Archives actively participates in international activities supporting preservation and has become a key institution in matters relating to preservation and access, establishing itself as a national resource for the rescue of documents damaged by flood and fire.

It thus becomes the third winner of the Jikji Prize, after the Czech National Library (2005) and the Austrian Phonogrammarchiv (2007). It was chosen from a shortlist of four nominations that also included Mr Vassilios Peltikoglou from Greece, the Brukenthal Museum Library in Romania and the National Archives of South Africa, all of which were judged to have made an important contribution to the field of preservation of documentary heritage.

In making its recommendation, the Jury took the following factors into consideration: the significance of work already undertaken in the area of preservation that is beyond the candidate’s regular functions, long-term preservation strategy, sustainability, and international outreach.

The UNESCO/Jikji Memory of the World Prize serves to promote the objectives of the Memory of the World Programme and to commemorate the inscription of the Jikji, the oldest existing book produced using movable metal print, on the Memory of the World Register. The Prize is open to governments of Member States and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) maintaining formal relations with UNESCO.