Campaigner against same-sex partnership wins award
The Aadu Luukas Mission Award for service to society - one of the most handsomely monetarily compensated awards in Estonia - went to the Foundation for the Protection of Family and Tradition.
The award, honoring a late philanthropist and transit businessman, comes with a 32,000-euro cash prize. Runners-up - this year's crop included the Estonian Food Bank and zoo director Mati Kaal among others - get 6,400 euros each.
The winning foundation is led by Varro Vooglaid, who became controversial for his campaign against the gender-neurtral Cohabitation Act passed earlier this year.
Vooglaid says the organization is not a one-issue group and wants to act much more broadly in the future. In a longer interview with ETV this morning, Vooglaid also argued that his group was not reactionary or oppositional but rather emphasized support for values that he considers to be under attack.
The Aadu Luukas award jury said it was impressed by Vooglaid's commitment and sense of mission.
"I'd like to stress that by handing over this award, we don't want to sow divisions, but the goal is to highlight the winner's importance to inciting discussion that is part of democratic society, contibuting thereby to Estonia's balanced development, which is also referred to in the mission award statute," said Indrek Luukas, chairman of the award's organization board.