Francis K.A. Allotey, a member of ICTP’s Scientific Council since 1996, has received Ghana’s 2005 Millennium Excellence Award (MEA) “for his contributions to science and for promoting science in Ghana and Africa.” The awards ceremony took place in Accra, Ghana, on 19 August. The MEAs, which are given once every five years, are designed to honour Ghana’s most prominent citizens in broad fields of endeavour that include the promotion of agriculture, education, gender balance, industrial and rural development, and science. The awards are sponsored by Ghana’s Excellence Awards Foundation, a private institution established in 1999. In all, 25 individuals and institutions were honoured in 2005, including UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, one of Ghana’s best-known citizens. Ghana’s President John Kufuor, and Osei Tutu, King of Ghana’s Ashanti ethnic group, hosted the awards’ ceremony.