Introduction
The International Slow Food Movement supp orts quality-focused agriculture and food production, promotes the work of farmers, craft workers and restaurateurs, encourages the initiative of all those who seek to protect the world's food and wine heritage and intervenes in the market to educate both its workers and its consumers. The Slow Food Award for the Defense of Biodiversity is reserved for all those who contribute to curb the impoverishment of the agricultural and food heritage, and in doing so safeguard the planet's ecological equilibrium. The Award Jury enables the organizers to seek out in all corners of the world projects to reward, activities to preserve, and individuals, groups, and associations that deserve recognition. Award winners are the true heroes of our time, individuals of importance to all those who believe food and wine-related values are an expression of past and future cultures. Such people are often solitary and anonymous, men and women who farm, fish, rear stock, process raw materials, who research, buy and sell or teach. The International Slow Food Movement aims to offer them visibility and financial assistance by recognizing them as defenders of biodiversity.

The Slow Food Award
The Slow Food Award is assigned annually to a varying number of winners. It consists not only of a cash prize but also of the presentation and promotion of the prize-wining activities through the Slow Food Movement's communication media. The Jury also elects five Special Jury Award winners, who receive a further cash prize, from the group.

Aims
The Slow Food Award for the Defence of Biodiversity was established to identify and support people all over the world who operate in defence, promotion and enhancement of the world's heritage of animal and vegetable species, food, agriculture produce, and related skills. Every year, the Award is assigned to people, communities or associations that Slow Food acknowledges as defenders and leaders of taste, and interpreters of the Slow Food philosophy. In particular, the Slow Food Award seeks to promote projects that constitute the foundations for safeguarding food culture and for future innovation. The aim of the Award is to protect biodiversity in the food and agriculture sphere, in all its possible forms.

The Candidates
All those who undertake or have undertaken production, marketing, promotion, educational and research activities in food culture may be nominated for a Slow Food Award. Members of the International Slow Food Award Jury, comprising experts who represent the Slow Food Movement's philosophy and all the various types of expertise linked to the world of wine and cuisine, food and agriculture, communications and research, may submit nominations. Once a nomination has been presented, it will be held valid for all future editions of the Award. Winners may not be re-nominated.

Where and When
The Slow Food Award for the Defense of Biodiversity is takes place annually. Each edition is held in a city chosen by the President's Committee of the Award.

Award Organization
The organs of the Slow Food Award are the President, the President's Committee, the Jury and the Honorary Committee.
President: The role of president is undertaken by the President of the International Slow Food Movement. The President nominates the members of the Jury and presides over the President's Committee, the Honorary Committee and the Jury.
President's Committee: the President's Committee comprises the Award President, the editor of Slow international magazine, published by Slow Food, and by the members of the Movement's International President's Committee. The President's Committee selects Slow Food Award winners from the nominations submitted to the Award Secretariat. The President's Committee reserves the right to refuse to consider candidates for whom information supplied is insufficient for the formulation of a decision. The members of the President's Committee are also members of the Jury but may not nominate candidates for the Award.
Honorary Committee: The Honorary Committee is nominated annually by the President's Committee and comprises eminent figures from every field of science, culture and production related to the Award's themes or linked to the city that is hosting the Award.

Jury: The Jury comprises at least 500 members and is supplemented each year by new nominees. Members are selected on the basis of their expertise and roles in the fields of communication, food and taste. The members of the President's Committee, the International Governors of the Slow Food Movement and the Honorary Committee are all ex ufficio members of the Jury. The Jury convenes in plenary session every four years at the Slow Food Award meeting. The first such meeting was held in Bologna in October 2000. For the intermediate editions of the Award (2001, 2002, 2003), the members of the International Jury will vote at times, and with the procedures, indicated in good time by the Award Secretariat. When appointed, Jury members also become members of the International Slow Food Movement, unless they express a desire to the contrary. On accepting, Jury members undertake to support and promote the aims and philosophy of the Slow Food Award and the Slow Food Movement. The term of office for each member of the Jury is three years, unless the position is forfeited for any of the reasons indicated below. At the end of this period, the President's Committee reserves the right to renew the term by sending notice in writing to the Jury member concerned.
Duties of the Jury:
a) to identify one or more candidates each year by submitting a detailed presentation to the Award Secretariat.
b) to vote for five special Jury Awards, to be assigned to members of the prize-winning group selected by the President's Committee.

Members of the Jury will automatically forfeit their status if any of the following conditions obtains:
- failure for two consecutive years to exercise voting rights and/or to nominate candidates for selection by the President's Committee;
- failure to perform the aforementioned duty by disputing or discrediting the promotion and aims of the Award;
- failure to attend the assembly after having confirmed attendance in advance (no-show);
- failure to pay any fees requested from members of the Jury and/or accompanying guests for services and facilities.

Nomination Enclosures
Material enclosed with nominations is not returnable. Since the documentation supplied to support the Slow Food Award nominations is a very valuable resource, and an important source of information for the Movement, data and materials collected may be used by the Movement itself to promote the activities of nominees, within the framework of Slow Food projects.

The Award Secretariat
The Slow Food Award Secretariat is domiciled at:
Via della Mendicità Istruita, 14
12042 Bra - Cuneo - Italy
Tel. ++39 0172 419611
Fax ++39 0172 411218
E-mail:premio@slowfood.it

Communications
The official languages of the Award are Italian, English, French, Spanish and German.

Controversies
The decision of the President's Committee shall be final for all controversies not covered by these regulations. For any disputes arising over the meaning of individual articles of the regulations, reference shall be made to the original Italian text.