The organization responsible for overseeing the Nobel Peace Prize moved quickly to clarify the rules surrounding its most famous award after a high-profile and politically charged gesture involving President Donald Trump drew international attention.
The Nobel Foundation emphasized this week that a Nobel Prize, once awarded, cannot be passed on to another person under any circumstances, even symbolically. The statement followed an unusual moment last week when Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado publicly presented her 2025 Nobel Peace Prize to President Trump.
According to the foundation, the clarification was necessary to protect the integrity of the prize and to reaffirm the rules laid out in Alfred Nobel’s will. In a statement released Sunday, the foundation said one of its core missions is to safeguard the dignity of the Nobel Prizes and their administration. It stressed that Nobel’s will is explicit in stating that the prizes are awarded to individuals who have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind and that only designated bodies have the authority to award them.
As a result, the foundation said, a prize cannot be passed on or further distributed, even as a symbolic act. The Nobel Foundation appeared intent on drawing a clear line between the physical items associated with the prize and the official recognition itself.
That message echoed an earlier explanation published Friday, in which the foundation addressed the symbolism of the Nobel Peace Prize and what happens if the medal, diploma, or prize money changes hands. The foundation stated unequivocally that regardless of what may happen to those items, the original recipient remains the sole Nobel laureate in the historical record.
The release underscored that even if a medal or diploma later comes into someone else’s possession, it does not alter who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The foundation further clarified that a laureate cannot share the prize with others or transfer it once it has been announced. It also noted that a Nobel Peace Prize can never be revoked, stressing that the decision is final and applies for all time.
The foundation’s repeated explanations followed widespread attention surrounding Machado’s decision to give her prize to Trump. Machado presented the medal to the president after the United States used military force to raid Venezuela and arrest and extradite former dictator Nicolás Maduro. Maduro is now imprisoned in New York on charges related to drug trafficking.
Following her meeting with Trump at the White House, Machado described the gesture as an expression of gratitude and recognition. She told reporters that she had presented the president of the United States with the Nobel Peace Prize medal as a recognition of what she called his unique commitment to Venezuelan freedom.
The episode placed the Nobel Foundation in an awkward spotlight, prompting it to restate long-standing rules in response to an action that carried significant political symbolism. While the physical medal may have changed hands, the foundation made clear that, in its view, the meaning and ownership of the Nobel Peace Prize itself remain fixed, governed strictly by Nobel’s original intent and the foundation’s enduring rules.
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