Camões Prize

The Camões Prize (Portuguese: Prémio Camões, Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈpɾɛmju kaˈmõjʃ]), named after Luís de Camões, is the most prestigious prize for literature in the Portuguese language. The prize was established in 1989 and is supported by the governments of Brazil and Portugal. It is awarded annually to the author of an outstanding body of work written in Portuguese. Winners are selected by a jury and have included writers from Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Mozambique, and Portugal. The monetary award is €100,000, making it among the richest literary prizes in the world. Past winners include José Saramago, Eugénio de Andrade, Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, and Chico Buarque.

Camões Prize Prémio Camões
Country	Lusophone countries
Presented by	Direção-Geral do Livro, dos Arquivos e das Biblioteca (Portugal) and Fundação Biblioteca Nacional (Brazil)
Reward(s)	€100,000
First award	1989
Website	http://livro.dglab.gov.pt/sites/DGLB/Portugues/premios/PremioCamoes/Paginas/PremioCamoes.aspx

History

The Camões Prize was first introduced by the Additional Protocol to the Cultural Agreement between the Government of the Portuguese Republic and the Government of the Federal Republic of Brazil, dated 7 September 1966, which creates the Camões Prize, signed in Brasilia on 22 June 1988, and approved in Portugal by Decree No. 43/88 of 30 November 1988.^[1]

This Protocol was replaced by a new one between the Portuguese Republic and the Federative Republic of Brazil, signed in Lisbon on 17 April 1999, approved by Portugal through Decree 47/99 in the official gazette of 5 November 1999.^[2]

The first award was made in 1989, with the winner being Miguel Torga. In 2006, José Luandino Vieira became the first person to refuse the award.^[3]

Description

The Camões Prize is considered the most prestigious literary award in the Portuguese-speaking world.^[4][5] It is awarded for a body of work that contributes to the dissemination and recognition of Portuguese language.^[6] It is awarded annually by the Portuguese Direção-Geral do Livro, dos Arquivos e das Biblioteca^[7] (National Book, Archives and Libraries Department) and the Brazilian Fundação Biblioteca Nacional^[8] (National Library Foundation). The award consists of a cash prize contributed by Brazil and Portugal. The value of the prize is set annually by agreement between the two countries, and currently stands at €100,000.

Writers in Portuguese from the Community of Portuguese Language Countries are considered for the prize. The winner is chosen by a specially designated jury, with representatives from Brazil, Portugal, and African countries with Portuguese as an official language.^[4]

Past winners

Year	Author		Country	Genre(s)	Ref(s)
1989		Miguel Torga (1907–1995)	Portugal	poetry, short story, novel, drama, memoirs, essay
1990		João Cabral de Melo Neto (1920–1999)	Brazil	poetry
1991		José Craveirinha (1922–2003)	Mozambique	poetry, journalism
1992		Vergílio Ferreira (1916–1996)	Portugal	novel, short story, memoirs, essay
1993		Rachel de Queiroz (1910–2003)	Brazil	novel, short story, translation, journalism, drama, memoirs, children's literature	[9]
1994		Jorge Amado (1912–2001)	Brazil	novel, short story, poetry, children's literature, biography, journalism
1995		José Saramago (1922–2010)	Portugal	novel, short story, drama, poetry, memoirs, journalism, children's literature
1996		Eduardo Lourenço (1923–2020)	Portugal	philosophy, literary criticism, essay
1997		"Pepetela"-Artur Carlos Maurício Pestana dos Santos (1941 – )	Angola	novel, drama
1998		António Cândido de Mello e Sousa (1918–2017)	Brazil	literary criticism, literary theory, essay, poetry
1999		Sophia de Mello Breyner (1919–2004)	Portugal	poetry, short story, drama, children's literature, translation, essay
2000		Autran Dourado (1926–2012)	Brazil	novel, short story, essay, memoirs
2001		Eugénio de Andrade (1923–2005)	Portugal	poetry, children's literature, translation, short story
2002		Maria Velho da Costa (1938–2020)	Portugal	novel, short story, drama, essay, screenplay
2003		Rubem Fonseca (1925–2020)	Brazil	novel, short story, screenplay
2004		Agustina Bessa-Luís (1922–2019)	Portugal	novel, short story, drama, essay, children's literature, biography, memoirs
2005		Lygia Fagundes Telles (1918 – 2022)	Brazil	novel, short story
2006		José Luandino Vieira (1935 – ) – refused	Portugal /  Angola	novel, short story, journalism, children's literature, translation	[3]
2007		António Lobo Antunes (1942 – )	Portugal	novel, short story
2008		João Ubaldo Ribeiro (1941–2014)	Brazil	novel, short story, journalism, children's literature, essay
2009		Arménio Vieira (1941 – )	Cape Verde	poetry, journalism
2010		Ferreira Gullar (1930–2016)	Brazil	poetry, short story, essay, art criticism, biography	[10]
2011		Manuel António Pina (1943–2012)	Portugal	poetry, children's literature, drama, short story, journalism	[11]
2012		Dalton Trevisan (1925–2024)	Brazil	short story	[12]
2013		Mia Couto (1955 – )	Mozambique	novel, short story, poetry	[13]
2014		Alberto da Costa e Silva (1931–2023)	Brazil	history, poetry, memoirs, essay, biography	[14]
2015		Hélia Correia (1949 – )	Portugal	novel, children's literature, drama, poetry	[15]
2016		Raduan Nassar (1935 – )	Brazil	short story, novel	[16]
2017		Manuel Alegre (1936 – )	Portugal	poetry, novel	[17]
2018		Germano Almeida (1945 – )	Cape Verde	novel	[18]
2019		Chico Buarque (1944 – )	Brazil	songwriting, novel, drama	[19]
2020		Vítor Manuel de Aguiar e Silva (1939 –)	Portugal	essay	[20]
2021		Paulina Chiziane (1955 –)	Mozambique	novel	[21]
2022		Silviano Santiago (1936 –)	Brazil	novel, essay, literary criticism	[22]
2023		João Barrento (1940 –)	Portugal	translation, essay	[23]
2024		Adélia Prado (1935 –)	Brazil	poetry	[24]

Winners per country

•  Brazil – 15
•  Portugal – 14
•  Mozambique – 3
•  Angola – 2
•  Cape Verde – 2