Carola Häggkvist received a gold medal called Illis quorum of the Swedish minister of culture Parisa Liljestrand on the 18th of November. She got the medal during her concert in the Filadelfia Convention Center.
This gold medal with the inscription Illis quorum meruere labores is a medal that gets awarded every year by the Swedish government to those with outstanding contributions to cultural, scientific and other public benefit purposes. The inscription Illis quorum meruere labores means “For Those Whose Labors Have Deserved It”.
The Swedish government chose Carola Häggkvist because of her longstanding and successful music career, which has also helped putting Swedish music on the map internationally.
Other Swedes that got the medal this year are Lena Anderson and Christofer Murray.
Carola represented Sweden three times at Eurovision Song Contest: 1983 where she finished in 3th place, 1991 finishing in first place and 2006, where she finished in fifth place.
She won the contest in 1991 with the song Fångad av en stormvind / Captured by a Lovestorm. Which is now a well-loved ESC classic.
Carola has been a popstar in Sweden since 1980s and this year she celebrated being part of the Swedish music industry for 40 years.
Receiving this prestigious medal is the cherry on top of her wonderful career!
