Jimmy Carter receives Holbrooke award from Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation

NEW YORK — Less than two weeks before his 100th birthday, former President Jimmy Carter is receiving a lifetime achievement award from the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation, which has set aside its longstanding rule that the winner accept the honor in person. His grandson, Jason Carter, will accept the prize on his behalf during a November ceremony that will honor the former president’s peace efforts and his authorship of more than 30 books — what the foundation calls “the power of the written word to foster peace, social justice, and global understanding.” “For the past 17 years, one of the standing requirements to receive the Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award was a guaranty that the recipient would appear in person in Dayton, OH for an on-stage interview and an awards ceremony,” Nicholas A. Raines, executive director of the Dayton foundation, said in a statement. “This year we have decided to waive that requirement and present the award in absentia, to President Jimmy Carter.” Jason Carter said in a statement that two of his grandfather’s “most enduring interests have been a devotion to literature and a near-constant pursuit of a peaceful resolution to conflict.” “It is gratifying to have the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation choose to honor my grandfather with the Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award for a lifetime of work melding two of his loves — literature and peace,” Jason Carter added. On Thursday, the Foundation also announced that Paul Lynch’s “Prophet Song” won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Fiction and Victor Luckerson’s “Built from the Fire” won for nonfiction.