Saint-Exupéry for Youth Prize-Giving Ceremony

On 9 December 2015 at the Ecole de l’Air (French Air Force Academy) in Salon-de-Provence, the Foundation’s Chairman François d’Agay, nephew and godson of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and General Francis Pollet, Squadron Leader of the Ecole de l’Air, awarded the Antoine de Saint-Exupéry for Youth prize to secondary school students of Aix-Marseille Academy. Participants of the “Equal Opportunity” and “Aeronautics” mentoring programmes, several hundred young students have already received awards over the past 4 years with the support of the Charles Mercier Foundation, under the aegis of the Fondation de France.

This prize falls within the scope of the partnership agreement signed between the French Air Force and the Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Youth Foundation in 2013. It aims to encourage the emergence of responsible young citizens fully integrated into the Nation and to give them new perspectives, but it also honours the memory of the famous writer and pilot, a true philosopher whose humanist writings still resonate worldwide.

The continued existence of this prize would not have been possible without the tutors of the Ecole de l’Air, their teachers and the invaluable support of the air base. This prize also illustrates the unique patronage of youth around common values shared by the French Air Force and Major Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: responsibility, commitment, sense of effort, respect, service and excellence.

The Foundation offered each laureate the graphic novel “Saint-Exupéry, Lord of the Sands” published by Éditions Glénat in the presence of its illustrator Cédric Fernandez, who signed his book during this ceremony.

Articles (French).
La Provence (14/12/2015)
Le Régional (23/12/2015)
La Lettre de l’Ecole de l’Air (Nov/Déc 2015)

Photos : © O. Fabre / Armée de l’air

01- The laureates of the 2015 edition of the Saint-Exupéry prize.
02- François d’Agay awards the Antoine de Saint-Exupéry prize to the laureates.
03- Speech by the air cadets.
04- Illustrator Cédric Fernandez with François d’Agay, General Francis Pollet and Nicolas Delsalle-Mun.