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The City of Sydney is a major supporter of the Sydney Peace Prize. This involves a significant financial contribution along with other in-kind support in order to foster peace with justice within Sydney. Other partners include Gilbert & Tobin Lawyers and the media conglomerate Publishing and Broadcasting Limited.

Over three months each year, the Sydney Peace Prize jury - comprising seven individuals who represent corporate, media, academic and community sector interests - assesses the merits of the nominees' efforts to promote peace with justice. It is awarded to an organisation or individual:

• who has made significant contributions to global peace including improvements in personal security and steps towards eradicating poverty, and other forms of structural violence
• whose role and responsibilities enable the recipient to use the prize to further the cause of peace with justice
• whose work illustrates the philosophy and principles of non-violence

The jury has been prepared to make some controversial choices. Sydney Peace Foundation Director, Emeritus Professor Stuart Rees , said "The initiators of the Sydney Peace Prize aimed to influence public interest in peace with justice, an ideal which is often perceived as controversial. The choice of a non-controversial candidate for a peace prize would be a safe option but unlikely to prompt debate or to increase understanding. Consensus usually encourages compliance, often anaesthetises and seldom informs." (SMH)

In 2004 conservative commentators criticised the award being presented to Arundhati Roy for her general support for resistance in Iraq against the invasion and occupation by the USA and other countries.

In 2003 the awarding of the prize to Dr. Hanan Ashrawi caused much debate and several protests arising from Ashrawi's role as a Palestinian spokeperson in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

1 Prize Winners

• 2004 - Arundhati Roy, Indian Novelist and peace activist
• 2003 - Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, Palestinian academic and human rights campaigner
• 2002 - Mary Robinson, former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
• 2001 - Sir William Deane, the former Governor-General of Australia
• 2000This page is about the year 2000. See 2000 AD for the UK comic book, Number 2000 for other uses. 2000 is a leap year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar), and also the International Year for a Culture of Peace''. Events Y2K passes without the seri - Xanana GusmãoKay Rala Xanana Gusmao (born June 20, 1946), born Jose Alexandre Gusmao is the inaugural President of the small nation of East Timor in Southeast Asia. Gusmao was born to school-teacher parents in Manaututo in what was then Portuguese Timor, and attended, the poet-artist and PresidentPresident is a title held by many leaders of organizations, companies, universities, and countries. Etymologically, a "president" is one who presides, who sits in leadership (from Latin prae "before" + sedere "to sit"). Originally, the term usually referr of East TimorThe Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste commonly known as East Timor is an island nation in Southeast Asia, consisting of the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecussi-Ambeno, a political exclave of East Timor
• 1999For the album by Prince, see 1999 (album 1999 is a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar), and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the UN. Events Kosovo War Former child star Gary Coleman files for bankruptcy Y2K prep - Archbishop Emeritus Desmond TutuDesmond Mpilo Tutu (born October 7, 1931) is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, South African cleric and activist who rose to worldwide fame in the 1980s through his opposition to apartheid. He was the first black Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, former Nobel Peace PrizeThe Nobel Peace Prize (where Nobel is pronounced with the stress on the second syllable) is one of five Nobel Prizes bequested by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel. While the Physics, Chemistry, Medicine and Literature Prizes are awarded recipient
• 1998 - Professor Muhammad Yunus, the founder of the Grameen Bank for the poor