The Prize

Dedicated to my parents Bessie and Alex Wallace

‘The whole of my remaining realizable estate shall be dealt with in the following way: The capital shall be invested by my executors in safe securities and shall constitute a fund, the interest on which shall be annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind. The said interest shall be divided into five equal parts…’

– ALFRED BERNHARD NOBEL

November 27, 1895

‘The honours of this world, what are they but puff, and emptiness, and peril of falling?’

– SAINT AUGUSTINE

c. A.D. 400