List of the world's richest literary prizes

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Announcement of the Laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature, the world's richest literary prize, at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm (2008)

Many literary awards attract a significant remuneration as part of their prize. This is a list of active literary awards from around the world with remunerations valued at least US$100,000, or equivalent.

Inclusion criteria

• The award is active and is primarily focused on writing and the arts.
• The remuneration is equal to or greater than US$100,000 or equivalent. Because fluctuating exchange rates move non-US dollar denominated awards in and out of the list over time, awards near this amount are also included.
• The award is for any genre of writing (fiction, journalism, etc.) or award type (book or author).
• The listed remuneration is for a single winner or co-winners. The list does not aggregate the total value of runners-up and other prizes within the same award. For example, the Prime Minister's Literary Awards is listed as A$100,000 even though it is composed of four prizes totaling A$400,000.

Prizes

Equivalent in US$ (April 2016)	Prize amount	Prize name	Type	Host country	Primary language	Notes	Ref(s)
1,361,000	DH 5,000,000	Million's Poet	N/A	UAE	Arabic	Award for a single poem. Total prizes for 2nd to 5th positions are $2,723,000	[1]
990,000	kr 8,000,000	Nobel Prize for Literature	Author	Sweden	Any	There are five Nobel Prizes of 8 million kronor each. Reduced in 2012 from 10 million.	[2][3]
680,000	€601,000	Premio Planeta de Novela (winner)	Book	Spain	Spanish	See also runner-up of same prize.	[4]
618,000	kr 5,000,000	Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award	Author	Sweden	Any		[5]
307,000	kr 2,500,000	International Ibsen Award	Author^*	Norway	Any	Any drama and theater position eligible, not just writers.	[6]
300,000	US$300,000	The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize	Author^*	United States	English	Open to all arts not just writers.	[7]
260,000	US$260,000	Katara Prize for Arabic Novel	Book	Qatar	Arabic	Plus 4 winners of $60,000 and 5 of $30,000. Total prize pool is $650,000	[8]
250,000	US$250,000	Carlos Fuentes International Prize for Literary Creation in the Spanish Language	Author	Mexico	Spanish		[9]
226,000	€200,000	Prix mondial Cino Del Duca	Author	France	Any
212,000	DH 777,777	Sheikh Zayed Book Award	Book	United Arab Emirates	Arabic	9 awards for a total of AD7,000,000	[10]
200,000	US$200,000	Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Award for Translation	Author	Saudi Arabia	Arabic	5 awards of 200,000 each (1 million total)	[11]
175,000	US$175,000	Alfaguara Prize	Book	Spain	Spanish		[12]
170,000	€150,000	Premio Planeta de Novela (runner-up)	Book	Spain	Spanish	See also winner of same prize.	[4]
153,000	kr. 1,000,000	Sonning Prize	Author^*	Denmark	Any	Open to all arts not just writers.	[13]
150,000	US$150,000	Donald Windham-Sandy M. Campbell Literature Prizes	Book	United States	English	Composed of seven to nine awards of $150,000 each.	[14][15]
150,000	US$150,000	Lannan Literary Awards	Author	United States	English	Composed of three awards of $150,000 each. Prize amount last verified for 2007.	[16]
150,000	US$150,000	FIL Literature Award	Author	Mexico	Spanish		[17]
142,000	€125,000	Miguel de Cervantes Prize	Author	Spain	Spanish		[18]
142,000	€125,000	RBA International Prize for Crime Writing	Book	Spain	Any		[19]
136,000	€120,000	Premio de Novela Fernando Lara	Book	Spain	Spanish		[20]
114,000	€100,000	Rómulo Gallegos Prize	Book	Venezuela	Spanish		[21]
114,000	€100,000	Premio Primavera de Novela	Book	Spain	Spanish		[22]
114,000	€100,000	International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award	Book	Ireland	English		[23]
114,000	€100,000	Premio Novela Histórica Alfonso X El Sabio	Book	Spain	Spanish		[24]
114,000	€100,000	Camões Prize	Author	Portugal Brazil	Portuguese		[25]
114,000	€100,000	Prémio Leya	Book	Portugal	Portuguese		[26][27][28]
100,000	US$100,000	Premio de Traducción Literaria Tomás Segovia	Author	Mexico	Spanish	Translator award	[29]
100,000	US$100,000	Nigeria Prize for Literature	Book	Nigeria	English		[30][31]
100,000	US$100,000	Pritzker Military Library Literature Award	Author	United States	English		[32]
100,000	US$100,000	Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize	Author	United States	English		[33][34]
100,000	US$100,000	Wallace Stevens Award	Author	United States	English		[35]
100,000	US$100,000	Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature	Book	United States	English		[36]
100,000	US$100,000	Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award	Author	United States	English		[37]
100,000	US$100,000	Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais Cultural Awards	Author	United Arab Emirates	Arabic	Composed of five awards of $100,000 each.	[38]
100,000	US$100,000	Park Kyong-ni Prize	Author	South Korea	Any		[39]
95,000	A$125,000	Victorian Prize for Literature	Book	Australia	English	$25,000 winner in each category + $100,000 for overall winner.	[40]
93,000	¥10,000,000	Yokomizo Seishi Prize	Book	Japan	Japanese		[41]
76,000	kr. 500,000	Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award	Author	Denmark	Any		[42][43]
73,000	£50,000	Man Booker International Prize	Book	England	English		[44]

Key

• Columns are sortable (click small square)
• Author^*: Award is not literary-specific but has some literary winners.
• This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

The following awards have a superlative claim within certain defined categories, as described and sourced in the Notes column.

Equivalent in US$ (April 2016)	Prize amount	Prize name	Type	Host country	Primary language	Claim
617,000	kr 5,000,000	Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award	Children's literature	Sweden	Any	The richest children's literature prize in the world.[45]
141,000	€125,000	RBA International Prize for Crime Writing	Crime fiction	Spain	Any	"The world's most lucrative crime fiction prize." [19]
40,000	C$50,000	Montreal International Poetry Prize	Poetry	Canada	Any	Thought to be the world's richest award for a single-poem.[46]
44,000	£30,000	Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award	Short story	United Kingdom	English	"The world's richest short story prize" (single short story).[47]
57,000	€50,000	Premio de Narrativa Breve Ribera del Duero	Short story collection	Spain	Spanish	"the largest in the world for a competition of this kind".[48]

References

1. Pearson, Bryan (4 April 2008). "'Million's Poet' a runaway success". Variety.
2. "The Size of the Nobel Prize Is Being Reduced to Safeguard Long-Term Capital". Nobel official website. June 11, 2012. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
3. "Nobel Prize Amounts" (PDF). Nobel website. Retrieved June 12, 2012.
4. "Javier Moro Wins Spain’s Planeta Prize". Latin American Herald Tribune. Retrieved October 16, 2012.
5. "Dutch author Guus Kuijer wins Astrid Lindgren memorial award", Alison Flood, The Guardian, 20 March 2012. Quote: "... the world's richest children's books prize, the Astrid Lindgren memorial award."
6. "International Ibsen Award". International Ibsen Award. Retrieved March 21, 2014.
7. Daniel Wakin (September 7, 2011). "Trisha Brown Wins Gish Prize". New York Times. Retrieved September 30, 2012.
8. Mlynxqualey (May 21, 2015). "Qatar’s New $650K Arabic Novel Prize Gets Relatively Quiet Launch". Arabic Literature (in English). Retrieved June 5, 2015.
9. "Carlos Fuentes Literary Prize Created". Latin American Herald Tribune. July 4, 2012. Retrieved July 4, 2012.
10. "Government founds 1m [pounds sterling] book prize." The Bookseller 2 Mar. 2007: 18. Literature Resource Center. Web. 8 Oct. 2012. GALE|A164104106
11. Werner Bloch (October 19, 2012). "Big Words, Big Prize-Money". Qantara.de. Retrieved October 19, 2012.
12. Juan Gabriel Vásquez ganó el premio Alfaguara de novela
13. "Sonning Prize at the University of Copenhagen". University of Copenhagen. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
14. Charles McGrath. "A Writer’s Estate to Yield $150,000 Literary Prizes", New York Times, June 17, 2011.
15. Carolyn Kellogg (June 20, 2011). "Yale to launch $150,000 writing award". LA Times. Retrieved October 11, 2012.
16. "Mike Davis recognized for literary achievements". UC Irvine. November 9, 2007. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
17. "FIL Prize in Romance Languages". Poets&Writers. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
18. David Carr (November 27, 2008). "Marse Wins Cervantes Prize". New York Times. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
19. Giles Tremlett (3 September 2009). "Philip Kerr wins €125,000 RBA crime writing prize". The Guardian. Retrieved September 13, 2013.
20. "Premio de Novela Fernando Lara". PlanetadeLibros. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
21. Alfonso Fernandez (2008). "Colombia’s Ospina Receives Romulo Gallegos Lit Prize in Venezuela". Latin American Herald Tribune. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
22. "Premio Primavera de Novela website". PlanetadeLibros. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
23. "Dutch writer wins world's biggest literature prize". DutchNews.nl. 18 June 2010. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
24. "Premio Novela Histórica Alfonso X El Sabio". PlanetadeLibros. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
25. "Literature: Brazilian author Dalton Trevisan awarded "Camões Prize" – Portugal". Portuguese American Journal. 22 May 2012. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
26. "Brasileiro Murilo Antonio Carvalho ganha Prêmio Leya de Literatura" (in Portuguese). Folha Online. October 14, 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-15.
27. "Nuno Camarneiro vence Prémio LeYa" (in Portuguese). JL, Jornal de Letras, Artes e Ideias. 17 December 2012. Retrieved 17 December 2012.
28. "Gabriela Ruivo Trindade vence Prémio LeYa" (in Portuguese). Leya News. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
29. "Mexico creates prize to honor literary translators". Fox News. August 23, 2012. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
30. The Nigeria Prize for Literature Competition, official website.
31. Tolulope Odeyemi. "On the hundred thousand dollar prize", Next, June 26, 2011
32. "Max Hastings Receives 2012 Pritzker Military Award". Publishers Weekly. Jun 19, 2012. Retrieved October 11, 2012.
33. "Awards", webpage maintained by The Poetry Foundation. Online version retrieved May 22, 2008.
34. Kinzer, Stephen (2004). "Poetry Starts to Wear $100 Million Crown", The New York Times October 7, 2004. Online version retrieved May 22, 2008.
35. "Wallace Stevens Award". Academy of American Poets. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
36. Dennis Hevesi (August 10, 2012). "Sami Rohr, Jewish Philanthropist Remembered by a Writing Prize, Dies at 86". New York Times. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
37. Dave Itzkoff (February 3, 2010). "$100,000 Poetry Prize Goes to D. A. Powell". New York Times. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
38. Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais Award for Scientific and Cultural Achievement, award criteria for Scientific and Cultural Achievement
39. Gili Izikovich (October 1, 2015). "Amos Oz Picked for South Korea’s Top Literary Prize". Haaretz. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
40. Jason Steger (January 28, 2014). "Liquid Nitrogen poet Jennifer Maiden wins Australia's richest literature prize". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
41. "Japanese Literary Awards". Retrieved January 23, 2013.
42. "JK Rowling wins Hans Christian Andersen literature award". The Guardian. 20 October 2010. Retrieved September 30, 3012. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
43. "Harry Potter author JK Rowling wins Hans Christian Andersen award". The Telegraph. 19 Oct 2010. Retrieved September 30, 3012. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
44. "Spark heads world Booker nominees". BBC News (BBC). 18 February 2005. Retrieved 22 May 2011.
45. Claire Armitstead (29 March 2011). "Shaun Tan wins Astrid Lindgren prize". The Guardian. Retrieved September 29, 2012.
46. Jeff Heinrich (March 31, 2011). "Your key to winning $50,000? Pure poetry". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved April 7, 2011. We realized that there's nothing on that scale for just one poem. And so there was an opportunity there. And when we started to think of it globally, that’s when we realized how unique it could be.
47. Staff writer (19 February 2012). "OMG: Text speak short story in running for £30,000 prize". The Telegraph. Retrieved January 22, 2013.
48. "Call For Award". riberadelduero.es. July 25, 2014. Retrieved December 7, 2014.