List of richest literary prizes

Many literary awards give significant remunerations. This is a list of active literary awards from around the world with a prize of at least US$100,000 or equivalent. Although global in scope and comprising over 35 awards, most of the prizes are in only four currencies: United Arab Emirates dirham, Swedish krona, Euro, and United States dollar.

Chinua Achebe, 2010 winner of The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize

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

Inclusion criteria

• The award is active and is primarily focused on writing (novels, poetry, non-fiction etc..)
• 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 totalling A$400,000.

Prizes

Approximate Equivalent in US$ (October 2024)	Prize amount	Prize name	Type	Host country	Primary language	Notes	Ref(s)
1,361,000	DH 5,000,000	Million's Poet	—	UAE	Arabic	Award for a single poem. Total prizes for 2nd to 5th positions are approximately $2,723,000. Sister prize of Prince of Poets	[1]
1,092,000	€1,000,000	Premio Planeta de Novela (winner)	Book	Spain	Spanish	See also runner-up of same prize.	[2]
1,000,000	kr 11,000,000	Nobel Prize in Literature	Author	Sweden	Any	There are five Nobel Prizes of 11 million kronor each.	[3]
466,500	kr 5,000,000	Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award	Author	Sweden	Any	Authors, illustrators, oral storytellers and people or organisations that work with reading promotion in the area of children's and young adult literature, are eligible for the prize.	[4]
272,000	DH 1,000,000	Prince of Poets	—	UAE	Arabic	Award for a single poem. Sister prize of Million's Poet	[5][6]
250,000	US$250,000	The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize	Author*	United States	English	Open to all arts, not just writers.	[7]
250,000	US$250,000	Carlos Fuentes International Prize for Literary Creation in the Spanish Language	Author	Mexico	Spanish	Any writer writing in the Spanish language	[8]
228,000	kr 2,500,000	International Ibsen Award	Author*	Norway	Any	Any drama and theater position eligible, not just writers.	[9]
218,000	€200,000	Prix mondial Cino Del Duca	Author	France	Any	Open to any writer working in either scientific or literary form	[10]
200,000	DH 750,000	Sheikh Zayed Book Award	Book	United Arab Emirates	Arabic	7 awards each valued at AED 750,000	[11]
200,000	US$200,000	Saudi King Abdullah International Award for Translation	Author	Saudi Arabia	Arabic	5 awards of 200,000 each (1 million total)	[12]
175,000	US$175,000	Alfaguara Prize	Book	Spain	Spanish		[13]
175,000	US$175,000	Windham–Campbell Literature Prizes	Author	United States	English	Composed of eight awards of $175,000 each.	[14][15]
164,000	€150,000	Premio Planeta de Novela (runner-up)	Book	Spain	Spanish	See also winner of same prize.	[16]
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.	[17]
150,000	US$150,000	FIL Literature Award	Author	Mexico	Spanish		[18]
150,000	US$150,000	Carol Shields Prize for Fiction	Author	US	English	Prize awards works of fiction by women and non-binary writers in Canada and the United States.	[19]
146,000	kr. 1,000,000	Sonning Prize	Author*	Denmark	Any	Open to all arts not just writers.	[20]
134,000	€125,000	Miguel de Cervantes Prize	Author	Spain	Spanish		[21]
134,000	€125,000	RBA Prize for Crime Writing	Book	Spain	Any		[22]
131,000	€120,000	Premio de Novela Fernando Lara	Book	Spain	Spanish		[23]
110,000	€100,000	Rómulo Gallegos Prize	Book	Venezuela	Spanish		[24]
110,000	€100,000	Premio Primavera de Novela	Book	Spain	Spanish		[25]
110,000	€100,000	International Dublin Literary Award	Book	Ireland	English		[26]
110,000	€100,000	Premio Novela Histórica Alfonso X El Sabio	Book	Spain	Spanish		[27]
110,000	€100,000	Camões Prize	Author	Portugal Brazil	Portuguese		[28]
110,000	€100,000	Prémio Leya	Book	Portugal	Portuguese		[29][30][31]
100,000	US$100,000	Premio de Traducción Literaria Tomás Segovia	Author	Mexico	Spanish	Translator award	[32]
100,000	US$100,000	Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding	Book	Qatar	Arabic	Translation award. Total award value is $2 million.	[33]
100,000	US$100,000	Nigeria Prize for Literature	Book	Nigeria	English		[34][35]
100,000	US$100,000	Pritzker Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing	Author	United States	English		[36]
100,000	US$100,000	Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize	Author	United States	English		[37][38]
100,000	US$100,000	Wallace Stevens Award	Author	United States	English		[39]
100,000	US$100,000	Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature	Book	United States	English		[40]
100,000	US$100,000	The Kingsley and Kate Tufts Poetry Awards	Author	United States	English		[41]
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.	[42]
100,000	US$100,000	Park Kyong-ni Prize	Author	South Korea	Any		[43]

Key

• Columns are sortable (click small square)
• Type: Book: Award is for a book title / Author: Award is for an author name
• (*) 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
524,527	kr 5,000,000	Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award	Children's literature	Sweden	Any	The richest children's literature prize in the world.[44]
138,180	€125,000	RBA Prize for Crime Writing	Crime fiction	Spain	Any	"The world's most lucrative crime fiction prize."[22]
75,000	US$75,000	Cundill History Prize	Non-fiction and history	Canada	English	"the world's largest non-fiction purse"[45]
55,270	€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".[46]
39,358	£30,000	Sunday Times Short Story Award	Short story	United Kingdom	English	"The world's richest short story prize" (single short story).[47]
38,081	CA$50,000	Montreal International Poetry Prize	Poetry	Canada	Any	Thought to be the world's richest award for a single-poem.[48]

References

1. Pearson, Bryan (4 April 2008). "'Million's Poet' a runaway success". Variety.
2. "El Planeta del millón de euros acaba con el secreto de Carmen Mola". EFE. October 16, 2021. Retrieved October 15, 2021.
3. "Nobel Foundation raises the amount for this year's Nobel Prize awards to 11 million kronor". AP News. 2023-09-15. Retrieved 2024-11-06.
4. "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."
5. Pearson, Bryan (14 September 2007). "Abu Dhabi TV crowns 'Prince of Poets'". Variety.
6. "Saudia Arabia'S Eyad Hakami Wins Prince of Poets Title and AED 1,000,000!". www.dayofdubai.com. Retrieved 2024-11-05.
7. Kuo, Christopher (October 23, 2023). "Thelma Golden Wins Gish Prize". New York Times. Retrieved November 5, 2024.
8. "Carlos Fuentes Literary Prize Created". Latin American Herald Tribune. July 4, 2012. Retrieved July 4, 2012.
9. "International Ibsen Award". International Ibsen Award. Retrieved March 21, 2014.
10. Sabrina (2021-05-18). "World Editions - Maryse Condé Awarded the Prix Mondial Cino del Duca 2021". World Editions. Retrieved 2024-11-05.
11. https://scroll.in/article/1066374/sheikh-zayed-book-award-announces-the-2024-winners-in-seven-categories
12. Werner Bloch (October 19, 2012). "Big Words, Big Prize-Money". Qantara.de. Retrieved October 19, 2012.
13. Juan Gabriel Vásquez ganó el premio Alfaguara de novela Archived 2014-04-19 at the Wayback Machine
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. "Javier Moro Wins Spain's Planeta Prize". Latin American Herald Tribune. Retrieved October 16, 2012.
17. "Mike Davis recognized for literary achievements". UC Irvine. November 9, 2007. Archived from the original on February 17, 2013. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
18. "FIL Prize in Romance Languages". Poets&Writers. Archived from the original on April 7, 2013. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
19. Hewitt, Chris (2024-05-15). "University of Minnesota professor V.V. Ganeshananthan wins $150,000 literary prize for 'Brotherless Night'". www.startribune.com. Retrieved 2024-11-05.
20. "Sonning Prize at the University of Copenhagen". University of Copenhagen. 24 November 2008. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
21. David Carr (November 27, 2008). "Marse Wins Cervantes Prize". New York Times. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
22. Giles Tremlett (3 September 2009). "Philip Kerr wins €125,000 RBA crime writing prize". The Guardian. Retrieved September 13, 2013.
23. "Premio de Novela Fernando Lara". PlanetadeLibros. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
24. Alfonso Fernandez (2008). "Colombia's Ospina Receives Romulo Gallegos Lit Prize in Venezuela". Latin American Herald Tribune. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
25. "Premio Primavera de Novela website". PlanetadeLibros. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
26. "Dutch writer wins world's biggest literature prize". DutchNews.nl. 18 June 2010. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
27. "Premio Novela Histórica Alfonso X El Sabio". PlanetadeLibros. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
28. "Literature: Brazilian author Dalton Trevisan awarded "Camões Prize" – Portugal". Portuguese American Journal. 22 May 2012. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
29. "Brasileiro Murilo Antonio Carvalho ganha Prêmio Leya de Literatura" (in Portuguese). Folha Online. October 14, 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-15.
30. "Nuno Camarneiro vence Prémio LeYa" (in Portuguese). JL, Jornal de Letras, Artes e Ideias. 17 December 2012. Retrieved 17 December 2012.
31. "Gabriela Ruivo Trindade vence Prémio LeYa" (in Portuguese). Leya News. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
32. "Mexico creates prize to honor literary translators". Fox News. August 23, 2012. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
33. "Hamad Award". Hamad Award. Retrieved 2017-09-17.
34. The Nigeria Prize for Literature Competition Archived 2011-09-30 at the Wayback Machine, official website.
35. Tolulope Odeyemi. "On the hundred thousand dollar prize" Archived 2011-07-01 at the Wayback Machine, Next, June 26, 2011
36. "Max Hastings Receives 2012 Pritzker Military Award". Publishers Weekly. Jun 19, 2012. Retrieved October 11, 2012.
37. "Awards" Archived 2008-05-09 at the Wayback Machine, webpage maintained by The Poetry Foundation. Online version retrieved May 22, 2008.
38. Kinzer, Stephen (2004). "Poetry Starts to Wear $100 Million Crown", The New York Times October 7, 2004. Online version retrieved May 22, 2008.
39. "Wallace Stevens Award". Academy of American Poets. Archived from the original on 2010-06-15. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
40. Dennis Hevesi (August 10, 2012). "Sami Rohr, Jewish Philanthropist Remembered by a Writing Prize, Dies at 86". New York Times. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
41. Dave Itzkoff (February 3, 2010). "$100,000 Poetry Prize Goes to D. A. Powell". New York Times. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
42. Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais Award for Scientific and Cultural Achievement Archived 2012-05-07 at the Wayback Machine, award criteria for Scientific and Cultural Achievement
43. Gili Izikovich (October 1, 2015). "Amos Oz Picked for South Korea's Top Literary Prize". Haaretz. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
44. Claire Armitstead (29 March 2011). "Shaun Tan wins Astrid Lindgren prize". The Guardian. Retrieved September 29, 2012.
45. "Chinese history title wins Cundill". BookBrunch. November 9, 2023. Retrieved November 22, 2023.
46. "Call For Award". riberadelduero.es. July 25, 2014. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
47. Staff writer (19 February 2012). "OMG: Text speak short story in running for £30,000 prize". The Telegraph. Retrieved January 22, 2013.
48. 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.