OSLO: The Nobel Peace Prize remains permanently tied to the individual or organisation that wins it, regardless of what happens to the physical medal, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said on Friday, a day after last year’s laureate, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, handed her medal to United States President Donald Trump.
In a statement, the committee clarified that while Nobel laureates are free to give away, sell or donate their medals, diplomas or prize money, the honour and historical recognition of the prize cannot be transferred. “Regardless of what may happen to the medal, the diploma, or the prize money, it is and remains the original laureate who is recorded in history as the recipient of the prize,” the committee said.
Machado presented her medal to Trump on Thursday, prompting widespread debate after the White House released a photograph showing the US president holding a gold-coloured framed medal. A White House official said Trump intends to keep it. Machado’s Nobel Peace Prize also includes a diploma and 11 million Swedish crowns (about $1.19 million) in prize money.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee noted that there are no restrictions in the statutes of the Nobel Foundation governing what a laureate may do with the physical symbols of the award. “This means that a laureate is free to keep, give away, sell, or donate these items,” the statement said.
However, the committee stressed that the prize itself — the honour and recognition — remains “inseparably linked” to the person or organisation designated as the laureate. The five-member body also said it does not comment on statements or actions taken by laureates after the prize has been awarded and did not refer directly to either Machado or Trump.
The committee pointed out that this was not the first time a Nobel medal had been given away. In 1943, Nobel literature laureate Knut Hamsun handed his medal to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. More recently, 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov sold his medal for $100 million to raise funds for Unicef to support Ukrainian refugee children. In 2024, the widow of former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan donated his 2001 Nobel Peace Prize medal and diploma to the UN office in Geneva.
The statement appeared aimed at drawing a clear distinction between ownership of the physical medal and the enduring identity of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, amid renewed scrutiny triggered by the high-profile handover of last year’s award.
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