LEGAU, Germany, September 20, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- The One World Award (OWA) honors people with innovative projects who work courageously for a future worth living. This year, the jury awards the OWA to Dr. Hans Rudolf Herren, founder of the Swiss Foundation Biovision, and Rachel Agola from Kenia. The additional One World 'Very Impacting People' (VIP) Award is presented for the first time and will be received by the Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize laureate Prof. Wangari Matu Maathai.

Globalization only has a future if all available resources are divided evenly: material and economic resources as well as mental and social resources. This thought was motivation for Joseph Wilhelm, founder and CEO of RAPUNZEL NATURKOST, to initiate the One World Award. The nominations for the One World Award that were submitted by private persons, university professors or politicians underlined the fact that there are numerous positive initiatives to discover. In the end, the jury reviewed 29 high-quality applications from Peru to Laos. The extraordinary commitment of each nominee gives globalization a positive edge.

The finalists from Egypt, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Switzerland and Turkey are coming to Germany and Guests from all around the world congratulate the laureates. This award should encourage people to become active instead of falling into passiveness and despondency, emphasizes Joseph Wilhelm in his function of OWA initiator and jury member. Today, the Swiss entomologist, Dr. Hans Rudolf Herren and the Kenyan farmer Rachel Agola, will receive the artistic OWA statue from Joseph Wilhelm and a cash prize of 25,000 Euro - donated by RAPUNZEL. Dr. Hans Rudolf Herren founded the Biovision Foundation in 1998 with the aim to improve the life of people on the African continent in a sustainable way. The major projects of the foundation are malaria prophylaxis, the development of a farmer information network and the distribution of the push-pull method that helps to fight corn pests. With the implementation of this environmentally-sound cultivation method Rachel Agola improved her corn yield significantly. The push-pull method has been developed by the Kenyan research institute icipe and is based on intercropping Desmodium and corn. The odor of Desmodium repels the oviparous stemborer moths (push). In addition, Napier grass is planted on the edge of the field. Its odor attracts the moths from the corn field (pull). The eggs of the stemborer are deposited on the grass, but cannot develop to adulthood and die eventually. Biovision helps people to help themselves. Today, Rachel Agola is responsible for the push-pull farmers support group in her native Yenga village. The support group wants to spread new agricultural cultivation methods to other farmers. For her courage and not least for her woman power she receives the 2010 One World Award.

The so-called One World VIP-Award is awarded for the first time this year. The acronym VIP stands for Very Impacting People. This award is presented to extraordinary individuals who have a global impact. The person to receive this award in 2010 is Nobel Peace Prize laureate Prof. Wangari Matu Maathai from Kenya. Her list of successful achievements for a peaceful society within an intact environment is impressive. 2002 she was appointed Assistant Minister in the Ministry for Environment and became the first African Green politician in power. For the coming decade, she set herself an ambitious goal: she wants to plant one billion trees in Africa. The jury substantiated its decision with the following words: Wangari Maathai motivates all of us to contribute our part to the common goal of making this world a better place!

This year's award ceremony is part of an international festival in Germany. Guests from all around the world congratulate the laureates. Initiator of the OWA Joseph Wilhelm thanks patron IFOAM, the members of the jury Dr. Vandana Shiva (India), Tewolde Eghziaber (Ethiopia), Roberto Ugas (Peru) und Bernward Geier (Germany) and the RAPUNZEL OWA-Team for their support. For more information: http://www.one-world-award.de

Pressekontakt: One World Award c/o RAPUNZEL NATURKOST AG Heike Kirsten Tel.: +49(0)8330-529-1134 E-Mail: heike.kirsten@rapunzel.de organic Marken-Kommunikation GmbH Julia Hameister Mobil: +49(0)176-20536204 E-Mail: hameister@organic-werbeagentur.de

SOURCE: One World Award c/o RAPUNZEL NATURKOST AG

CONTACT: Pressekontakt: One World Award, c/o RAPUNZEL NATURKOST AG,Heike Kirsten, Tel.: +49(0)8330-529-1134, E-Mail: heike.kirsten@rapunzel.de. organic Marken-Kommunikation GmbH, Julia Hameister, Mobil:+49(0)176-20536204, E-Mail: hameister@organic-werbeagentur.de .