Sonning Prize

This article is about the culture prize. For the music prize, see Léonie Sonning Music Prize.

The Sonning Prize (Danish: Sonningprisen) is a Danish culture prize awarded biennially for outstanding contributions to European culture.^[1] It is named after the Danish editor and author Carl Johan Sonning (1879–1937), who established the prize by his will.

A prize was first awarded in 1950 to Winston Churchill.^[2] However, a sequence of annual awards in this name was established in 1959 with the award to Albert Schweitzer followed by Bertrand Russell in 1960, the criterion being someone who "has accomplished meritorious work for the advancement of European civilization", and judged by a committee of the Senate of the University of Copenhagen.^[3] From 1971, it was awarded every second year.^[4]

Prize winners are chosen by a committee chaired by the rector of the University of Copenhagen which decides on laureates from a selection of candidates proposed by European universities. The prize amounts to DKK 1 million (~€135,000) and the award ceremony is always held on or around 19 April (Sonning's birthday) in Copenhagen.^[5]

Sonning Prize laureates

Source:^[4]

Year	Recipient	Lifespan	Occupation	Country
1950	Winston Churchill	1874–1965	Author and statesman	United Kingdom
1959	Albert Schweitzer	1875–1965	Philosopher and physician	France
1960	Bertrand Russell	1872–1970	Philosopher	United Kingdom
1961	Niels Bohr[6]	1885–1962	Physicist	Denmark
1962	Alvar Aalto	1898–1976	Architect	Finland
1963	Karl Barth	1886–1968	Theologian	Switzerland
1964	Dominique Pire	1910–1969	Theologian and humanitarian	Belgium
1965	Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi	1894–1972	Author and statesman	Austria
1966	Laurence Olivier	1907–1989	Actor	United Kingdom
1967	Willem Visser 't Hooft	1900–1985	Theologian	Netherlands
1968	Arthur Koestler	1905–1983	Author	United Kingdom
1969	Halldór Laxness	1902–1998	Author	Iceland
1970	Max Tau	1897–1976	Author	West Germany
1971	Danilo Dolci	1924–1997	Author and social activist	Italy
1973	Karl Popper	1902–1994	Philosopher	Austria
1975	Hannah Arendt	1906–1975	Author and politologist	West Germany
1977	Arne Næss	1912–2009	Philosopher	Norway
1979	Hermann Gmeiner	1919–1986	Philanthropist	Austria
1981	Dario Fo	1926–2016	Playwright	Italy
1983	Simone de Beauvoir	1908–1986	Author	France
1985	William Heinesen	1900–1991	Author	Faroe Islands
1987	Jürgen Habermas	b. 1929	Sociologist and philosopher	West Germany
1989	Ingmar Bergman	1918–2007	Film and theatre director	Sweden
1991	Václav Havel	1936–2011	Author and statesman	Czechoslovakia
1994	Krzysztof Kieślowski	1941–1996	Film director	Poland
1996	Günter Grass	1927–2015	Author	Germany
1998	Jørn Utzon	1918–2008	Architect	Denmark
2000	Eugenio Barba	b. 1936	Author and theatre director	Italy
2002	Mary Robinson	b. 1944	Politician	Ireland
2004	Mona Hatoum	b. 1952	Video and installation artist	United Kingdom
2006	Ágnes Heller	1929–2019	Philosopher	Hungary
2008	Renzo Piano[7]	b. 1937	Architect	Italy
2010	Hans Magnus Enzensberger	1929–2022	Author	Germany
2012	Orhan Pamuk	b. 1952	Author	Turkey
2014	Michael Haneke[8]	b. 1942	Film director	Austria
2018	Lars von Trier[9]	b. 1956	Film director	Denmark
2021	Svetlana Alexievich[10]	b. 1948	Author and dissident	Belarus
2023	Marina Abramović[11]	b. 1946	Performance artist	Serbia
2025	Hervé This[12]	b. 1946	Physical Chemist	France

See also

• List of awards for contributions to culture
• List of European art awards
• Léonie Sonning Music Prize