Figure: Dr. Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted of Trinidad and Tobago and Denmark will be the 2021 World Food Prize Laureate. She will be honored in October during the WFPF week of events. Photo Source: World Food Prize Foundation

The World Food Prize Foundation has announced on May 11, 2021, that leading nutrition expert Dr. Shakuntala Haraksingh Thilsted is the 2021 World Food Prize Laureate for her achievements in pioneering fish-based food systems to improve nutrition, health, and livelihoods for millions around the world.

Dr. Thilsted becomes the seventh woman to be awarded the World Food Prize and the first woman of Asian heritage to receive the $250,000 award for unlocking the benefits of fish for diets, health, and livelihoods across the Global South. During the Laureate Announcement, Dr. Thilsted said, "This award is an important recognition of the essential but often overlooked role of fish and aquatic food systems in agricultural research for development. Fish and aquatic foods offer life-changing opportunities for millions of vulnerable women, children and men to be healthy and well-nourished."

The 2021 Laureate Announcement featured pre-recorded remarks from the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Thomas J. Vilsack, and UN Nutrition Chair Naoko Yamamoto, with World Food Prize Foundation President Barbara Stinson announcing the name of the Laureate.

For more details, visit the 2021 Thilsted page on the World Food Prize Foundation website.