RGP won the International Year of Rice (IYR) Global Scientific Contest

The article by Dr. Takuji Sasaki and the Rice Genome Research Program (RGP) entitled "The genome sequence and structure of rice chromosome 1", which was published in Nature on November 21,2002 (420:312-316 First Paragraph | Full Text ) has been awarded first prize in the rice breeding category in the International Year of Rice (IYR) Global Scientific Contest. The award was jointly announced by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) as part of the activities to celebrate 2004 as the International of Year of Rice (IYR). Dr. Sasaki will be recognized at a special ceremony on the occasion of World Food Day, 14 October 2004, in Rome and will be presented with a medal on behalf of the Rice Genome Research Program (RGP).

Details are available at the following links:
NIAS press release (Japanese)
FAO press release (English)
FAO press release (Japanese)
Asahi Shimbun Tensei-jingo,2004.10.17 (Japanese)