The award, which includes a $200,000 cash prize and solid 10- karat gold medals, will go to Barefoot College in Rajasthan, India, and Red Latinoamericana de Botanica, a consortium of six graduate training centers located in Mexico, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Brazil, Chile and Argentina.

The honors will be accepted by Bunker Roy, founder and director of Barefoot College, and Osvaldo Sala, president of Red Latinoamericana de Botanica.

On April 29, at 2 p.m., the recipients will give public lectures at the Davidson Conference Center of the University of Southern California, which administers the prize.

On April 30, at 7 p.m., they will be honored by the Tyler Prize Executive Committee and the international environmental community during a banquet and ceremony at the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills.

Since it was founded in 1972, Barefoot College has protected and improved the environment by enhancing the quality of life for the rural poor of India through efforts such as rainwater harvesting, wasteland regeneration, solar energy usage and health-care education.

The college has particularly addressed the problems of women and children in India's northwest region by providing night classes in animal husbandry, reading and math for thousands of children who must tend cattle during the day, as well as development programs for Rajput women who want better wages, legal rights and access to information about family planning.

Barefoot College - which serves a population of more than 500,000 people - has harnessed the powers of the sun and the rain, lighting and powering facilities
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Contact: Usha Sutliff
sutliff@usc.edu
213-740-0252
University of Southern California
21-Apr-2004