Every year a Grand Jury including 20 members is appointed. The members are specialists in the specific subjects receiving the award, and they appoint their own president. The members of the Jury exclude themselves from being chosen for a Konex Award; a gesture that the Foundation emphasizes and thanks very specially. Each year the activity receiving a prize is classified by the Grand Jury into 20 disciplines. The Grand Jury selects the recipients for the following awards: • Konex Merit Diploma • Platinum Konex • Diamond Konex • Honour Konex • Mercosur Konex The Grand Jury selects the five personalities or institutions that show the most remarkable accomplishments in each of the 20 chosen disciplines, awarding each of these 100 personalities or institutions a Merit Diploma in a public ceremony. Then the Grand Jury selects one figure out of the five awarded to receive the Platinum Konex. Among the 20 Platinum Konex winners, the Grand Jury selects the Diamond Konex recipient, the most outstanding personality or institution considered the most relevant figure of the activity. The Honour Konex is granted to an outstanding deceased personality. The Grand Jury also has the power to grant Special Mentions to those who are considered worthy of the award but do not specifically fit within given disciplines. Since 2002 the Grand Jury has the authority to grant the Mercosur Konex to the most relevant living personalities of the countries linked to
Mercosur. All awards are presented in a final, special ceremony in which the recipients are granted a distinctive symbol called Konex Trophy. The Konex Foundation further has the authority to grant the Konex Decoration to honor personalities who have brilliant careers around the world, for their contribution to universal culture. Thus far, two Konex Decorations have been granted:
Yehudi Menuhin in 1994 and
Mstislav Rostropovich in 2002. ==Related links==