The Miguel de Cervantes Prize ( es, Premio de Literatura en Lengua Castellana Miguel de Cervantes) is awarded annually to honour the lifetime achievement of an outstanding writer in the Spanish language.

History

The prize was established in 1975 by the Ministry of Culture of Spain and first awarded the following year. The '' Encyclopædia Britannica'' calls it "most prestigious and remunerative award given for Spanish-language literature". The winner receives a monetary award of 125,000 euros, which makes it one of the richest literary prizes in the world. The prize rewards authors from any

Spanish-speaking Hispanophone and Hispanic refers to anything relating to the Spanish language (the Hispanosphere). In a cultural, rather than merely linguistic sense, the notion of "Hispanophone" goes further than the above definition. The Hispanic culture is th ...

nation and recognizes the recipient's overall body of work. Of the forty-seven prizes awarded in the history of the Cervantes Prize, only six have ever been awarded to women. In 1988, the Spanish writer María Zambrano (1904-1991) was the first to writer to be so honored. The award is named after Miguel de Cervantes, author of '' Don Quixote''. The candidates are proposed by the Association of Spanish Language Academies (i.e., the

Royal Spanish Academy The Royal Spanish Academy ( es, Real Academia Española, generally abbreviated as RAE) is Spain's official royal institution with a mission to ensure the stability of the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, Spain, and is affiliated with ...

). As of the presentation of the 2019 award to

Joan Margarit Joan Margarit i Consarnau (; 11 May 1938 – 16 February 2021) was a Catalan poet, architect and professor. Most of his work is written in the Catalan language. He won the 2019 Miguel de Cervantes Prize. Life and career Born in Sanaüja t ...

, the recipients have been recognized for their writing of novels, poetry, short stories, essays, translations, philosophy or dramasor for combinations thereof. With two winners in 1979, there have been 45 recipients of the Miguel de Cervantes Prize.

The Cervantes Prize and the Nobel Prize in Literature

Three of the 45 winners of the Miguel de Cervantes Prize have also won the

Nobel Prize in Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...

. Octavio Paz (Cervantes 1981, Nobel 1990) and Mario Vargas Llosa (Cervantes 1994, Nobel 2010), were awarded the Nobel Prize in subsequent years, while Camilo José Cela received the Nobel Prize in 1989 and was awarded the Cervantes Prize in 1995.

Laureates

The list of winners is available at the official ''Premio 'Miguel Cervantes website.

Laureates per country

The following table shows the number of laureates per country:

Notes and references

External links

Miguel de Cervantes Prize
at the Ministry of Culture
Miguel de Cervantes Prize
''El poder de la palabra'' {{Authority control Awards established in 1976 Literary awards honoring lifetime achievement Miguel de Cervantes Spanish-language literary awards Spanish literary awards 1976 establishments in Spain