The award was given to Professor Ngô Bảo Châu and another candidate, Bakir Farhi. This award recognizes the outstanding contributions of mathematicians around the world.
It bears the name of Maurice Audin, a French mathematician at the University of Algiers, a member of the Algerian Communist Party and an activist in the anti-colonialist cause, who died from torture by the French state during the Battle of Algiers. He has become a symbol for freedom for French mathematicians.