The Norwegian Nobel Committee has reiterated that a Nobel Peace Prize cannot be transferred, shared, or revoked, after US President Donald Trump praised Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado
for presenting him with what he described as “her Nobel Peace Prize”.
In a statement outlining long-standing rules, the Nobel Institute on Friday said that the prize and the laureate are inseparable, and that it is always the original recipient who is recorded in history as the Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
“Regardless of what may happen to the medal, the diploma, or the prize money, it is and remains the original laureate who is recorded in history as the recipient of the prize,” the Nobel Institute said.
The statement clarified that a Nobel Peace Prize cannot be shared with others, transferred once announced, or revoked at any stage. “The decision is final and applies for all time,” it said.
Trump had earlier said Machado presented him with “her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done” during a meeting at the White House, calling it a “wonderful gesture of mutual respect”. In a post on Truth Social, Trump described Machado as “a wonderful woman who has been through so much”.
The Nobel Institute, however, underlined that while there are no restrictions on what a laureate may do with the physical items associated with the prize — including keeping, giving away, selling, or donating the medal, diploma, or prize money — such actions do not change who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Committee also said it does not comment on the subsequent statements, decisions, or political actions of Nobel Peace Prize laureates, stressing that the award is based on a laureate’s contributions at the time the decision is made.
In its press release, the Norwegian Nobel Committee cited several historical examples to underline that while Nobel medals may change hands, the identity of the laureate never does.
Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001, had his medal and diploma donated in February 2024 by his widow Nane Annan to the United Nations Office in Geneva, where they are now permanently displayed.
The Peace Prize medal of Christian Lous Lange, awarded in 1921, has been on long-term loan from his family to the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo since 2005.
Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov, the 2021 Peace Prize laureate, sold his medal in 2022 for USD 103.5 million and donated the entire amount to UNICEF for Ukrainian refugee children — the highest price ever paid for a Nobel medal.
The Committee also cited cases involving physicists David Thouless and Leon Lederman, as well as controversial precedents such as author Knut Hamsun, whose medal’s whereabouts remain unknown.
The Committee said these examples show that possession of a medal does not alter who is recorded in history as a Nobel laureate.
