[new_royalslider id=”87″]Three well-known figures in sports and film will be honored for their accomplishments with the 35th Annual Common Wealth Awards of Distinguished Service.
The 2014 Common Wealth Award recipients are:
– Bob Costas, Emmy Award-winning journalist and eight-time National Sportscaster of the Year, for Mass Communications;
– Anjelica Huston, Academy Award-winning actress and director, for Dramatic Arts;
– Mariano Rivera, future Hall of Fame baseball player and humanitarian, for Public Service.
The honorees will be recognized at the Common Wealth Awards ceremony hosted by The PNC Financial Services Group on Saturday, April 5, at the Hotel du Pont in Wilmington.
The Common Wealth Awards of Distinguished Service were first presented in 1979 by The Common Wealth Trust which was created under the will of Ralph Hayes, a business executive and philanthropist. The awards are now made by The Ralph Hayes Common Wealth Foundation, which is funded by the Common Wealth Trust.
PNC Bank, National Association, serves as trustee of the Common Wealth Trust and administrator of the Ralph Hayes Common Wealth Foundation. Hayes was a board member of the Bank of Delaware, predecessor to PNC.
In the 35-year history of the Common Wealth Awards, $6 million has been awarded to 188 honorees.
The 2014 honorees will each receive an award of $75,000.
“The 2014 Common Wealth Award honorees represent the pinnacle of achievement in their respective fields,” said Nicholas M. Marsini, Jr. regional president for PNC Bank, Delaware. “They are leaders who use their talents to elevate their professions and make a difference in our world. We applaud these high achievers for their accomplishments and unwavering commitment to excellence.”
Ralph Hayes, creator of the Common Wealth Awards, served on the board of directors of one of PNC’s predecessor banks in Delaware from 1935 to 1965. Through the awards, he sought to recognize outstanding achievement in eight disciplines: dramatic arts, literature, science, invention, mass communications, public service, government, and sociology. The awards are also an incentive for individuals to make future contributions to the world community.
For three and half decades, the Common Wealth Awards have recognized heads of state, scientists and inventors, explorers, authors, performing artists and activists. Past winners include 11 Nobel laureates, among them, human rights leader Archbishop Desmond Tutu, statesman Henry Kissinger and authors Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Toni Morrison. Other high achievers on the Common Wealth Awards roster include former Secretary of State Colin Powell; H.M. Queen Noor of Jordan; dance legend Mikhail Baryshnikov; Hollywood icons Sidney Poitier and Meryl Streep; astronauts John Glenn and Buzz Aldrin; primatologist Jane Goodall; ocean explorer Robert Ballard; television journalists Christiane Amanpour, Wolf Blizter and Jane Pauley; and World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee.
