Noman Sabit: The committee that awards the Nobel Prize said Friday that the physical symbols of the prize a medal and diploma can be given away, but the honor itself is “inseparably linked” to the winner.
“The medal and the diploma are the physical symbols confirming that an individual or organisation has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The prize itself – the honour and recognition – remains inseparably linked to the person or organisation designated as the laureate by the Norwegian Nobel Committee,” the committee said in a statement.
Several Nobel medals are currently on display in museums around the world, the committee noted. They highlighted seven past winners who chose to give away or sell theirs, including former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, whose widow donated the medal and diploma to the U.N. Office in Geneva following his death in 2024.
“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 committee said. “Even if the medal or diploma later comes into someone else’s possession, this does not alter who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.”
The clarification came one day after Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado presented her Nobel Peace Prize medal to President Trump during a meeting in the White House.
“I presented the president of the United States the medal, the Nobel Peace Prize. I told him this: 200 years ago, Gen. [Marquis de] Lafayette gave Simón Bolívar a medal with George Washington’s face on it. Bolívar since then kept the medal for the rest of his life,” Machado told reporters Thursday.
“Two hundred years in history, the people of Bolivar are giving back to the heir of Washington a medal, in this case the medal of the Nobel Peace Prize as a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom,” she added.
Trump thanked Machado for the gesture in a post on Truth Social later that night.
“It was my Great Honor to meet María Corina Machado, of Venezuela, today,” Trump wrote. “She is a wonderful woman who has been through so much. María presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect.”
“Thank you María!” the post concluded.
Machado had signaled for weeks that she would give Trump the medal in the wake of U.S. intervention in Venezuela that led to the capture of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife to face narcoterrorism charges.
Those suggestions, though not mentioned directly, prompted the Nobel Committee to clarify last Friday the prize could not be “revoked, shared, or transferred to others” once announced.
Trump has publicly lobbied to win the Peace Prize, claiming to have ended at least eight wars, but also repeatedly criticized the committee that awards it.
The White House argued last year, before Machado was selected, that it was “well past time” for Trump to get the prize. A former aide in Trump’s first term said at the time that the president “sees this prize as the ultimate capstone to how history will remember him.”
When it declared Machado the winner last October, the Norwegian Nobel Committee described her as “one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times” and praised her work in promoting democracy.
Machado, who went into hiding for more than a year before reappearing in public in Norway last month, has indicated that she wants to return to Venezuela “as soon as possible” to help in the transition.
Trump has instead backed Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s close ally and vice president, as acting president, saying Machado does not have enough support or respect to lead the country.
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