The head of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) yesterday was given  a prestigious Spanish award on behalf of the UN agency for its work in Africa and its efforts to improve the health and living conditions of millions of children around the world.

Accepting the 2006 Prince of Asturias Award for Concord during a ceremony in Oviedo, UNICEF executive director, Ann Veneman, described the prize as "a great honour. UNICEF is grateful to the Prince of Asturias Foundation for this global recognition and hopes that it will inspire others to work to make the world a better place for children," she said.

The minutes of the award jury's decision cited UNICEF's "generous effort, 60 years of child advocacy, and especially its most recent battle: to put an end to ignorance, poverty and disease in the African continent."

The awards, which have been presented since 1981, are handed out in eight categories: Arts, Communications and Humanities, International Cooperation, Literature, Social Sciences, Sports, Technical and Scientific Research, and Concord. A jury in each category selects the winners.

Previous winners of the Concord category include the violinist Yehudi Menuhin, the scientist Stephen Hawking and the non-governmental organization (NGO) Save The Children.

Among the most famous names among this year's other award winners were the Spanish basketball squad, who won the World Cup in Japan recently, former Irish president, Mary Robinson, who gave her speech in Spanish, and Oscar winning film director, Pedro Almodóvar, whose latest work 'Volver' has been nominated as Spain's candidate for next year's Best Foreign Film Oscar.