Charlemagne Prize

Charlemagne Prize
Awarded for	Distinguished service on behalf of European unification
Location	Aachen, Germany
Presented by	Society for the Conferring of the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen
First awarded	1 May 1950; 74 years ago (1950-05-01)
Currently held by	Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the people of Ukraine
Website	www.karlspreis.de/en/

The Charlemagne Prize (German: Karlspreis; full name originally Internationaler Karlspreis der Stadt Aachen, International Charlemagne Prize of the City of Aachen, since 1988 Internationaler Karlspreis zu Aachen, International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen) is a prize awarded for work done in the service of European unification. It has been awarded since 1950 by the German city of Aachen. It commemorates Charlemagne (German: Karl der Große), ruler of the Frankish Empire and founder of what became the Holy Roman Empire, who was the first to unify Western Europe following the Fall of the Western Roman Empire. Traditionally the award is given to the recipient on Ascension Day in a ceremony in the Aachen Town Hall. In April 2008, the organisers of the Charlemagne Prize and the European Parliament jointly created a new European Charlemagne Youth Prize, which recognises contributions by young people towards the process of European integration. Patrons of the foundation are King Philippe of Belgium, King Felipe VI of Spain, and Henri, the Grand Duke of Luxembourg.^[1]