College Station, Texas, Oct 05: US Senator Edward Kennedy will receive the 2003 George Bush award for excellence in public service. It is named for George Herbert Walker Bush, the current president's father.

The award will be presented to the Massachusetts Democrat at a dinner ceremony November 7 following a speech by Kennedy at Texas A&M University. Former President George Bush will present the award, which previously went to former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl.

Kennedy has been one of current President George W Bush's harshest critics over the Iraq war. Former President Bush has sole discretion on who receives the award, said Penrod Thornton of the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation.

Recipients of the Bush award receive a crystal sculpture and a dollar 20,000 cash prize.

Bureau Report