The first Laureate Awards were made in 1974 by the Alumni Association of the University of Pretoria (Bond van Oudstudente). Since then, it has become one of the most prestigious awards bestowed by the University.

The awards is made in three categories:

1. To allow alumni to honour outstanding fellow Alumni for their excellent contributions in numerous fields.
2. To honour persons of merit, other than alumni, (friends of UP) who have also excelled in their respective endeavours, contributing to the University of Pretoria.
3. To honour outstanding alumni under the age of 35 years already with distinguishing achievements.

This year, the recipients were:

• Dr Liesbeth Botha
• Professor Chabani Manganyi
• Mr Ben Schoeman
• Mr Kennedy Bungane
• Ms Anati Canca
• Dr Cival Mills
• Ms Futhi Mtoba
• Mr Roland Röhrs
• Ms Elizabeth Steijn
• Dr Andries Terblanche
• Mr Alec Wapnick

(Click here to read more about our recipients.)

At the prestigious awards function, attended by 900 people in Pretoria, Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Calie Pistorius, emphasised the importance of the University's alumni. He stressed the alumni's role in ensuring that the UP remains one of South Africa's world class universities. Pistorius also repeated the University's vision of being the academic home of the rich diversity of South African academic talent. "Intellectual leadership necessarily includes a discourse on the politics of the day, but politicising the University’s governance and management structures is a different matter and should be avoided," he added.

Click here to read Prof Pistorius’s full address.