The Nobel Committee reiterated that the Peace Prize remains officially linked to its laureate even if the physical medal is later given away. The clarification followed 2025 laureate María Corina Machado’s decision to present her medal to President Donald Trump. The committee noted Nobel statutes allow recipients to keep, donate, sell, or loan medals and other prize items and cited precedents, including Knut Hamsun’s 1943 gift of his Nobel medal to Joseph Goebbels.
Nobel Committee: Prize Remains With Laureate Even If Medal Is Given Away — Past Cases Including One Sent To Goebbels
Norway’s Nobel Committee on Friday reiterated that a Nobel Prize remains "inseparably linked" to the laureate who received it, even if the physical medal is later gifted, loaned or sold. The statement followed public attention after 2025 Peace Prize winner Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado presented her medal to U.S. President Donald Trump during a White House visit.
Committee Clarifies Legal and Practical Distinction
The committee stressed that while the prize itself cannot be revoked, shared, or transferred under Nobel statutes, the physical objects associated with the award—the medal, diploma and prize money—are the personal property of the laureate. Laureates may therefore "keep, give away, sell, or donate" these items without altering the official status of the prize or the historical record of the award.
"The award is inseparably linked to the laureate," the committee wrote in a follow-up press release, adding that the Nobel Foundation’s statutes place no limits on what recipients may do with the physical prize items.
Historical Precedents
To place the Machado–Trump incident in historical context, the committee listed several precedents in which laureates loaned medals to museums, donated them to institutions, or presented them to governments. The list included one particularly controversial example involving a Nobel laureate who personally honoured a political figure abroad.
That case involved Norwegian author Knut Hamsun, who won the 1920 Nobel Prize in Literature. In 1943, Hamsun travelled to Germany and met Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. After returning to Norway, he sent his Nobel medal to Goebbels as a gesture of thanks; Goebbels accepted the gift. The present whereabouts of Hamsun’s medal remain unknown, the committee said.
No Direct Comment On Machado Or Trump
The committee did not single out Machado or President Trump for comment. Its release sought to clarify the technical and historical points: the laureate retains the formal connection to the award regardless of what happens to the physical medal, and past winners have made varied and sometimes controversial decisions about what to do with their prizes.
Photo credit: Alex Brandon/AP
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