Can The Nobel Peace Prize be transferred? Rules explained after Maria Corina Machado's gesture

Maria Corina Machado's Gesture

• 💡 Venezuelan politician Maria Corina Machado, the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner, presented her medal to US President Donald Trump on January 15th.
• 💬 Trump appreciated the gesture, stating Machado called him to say she was accepting it in his honor, while Machado herself praised Trump and compared the act to Lafayette giving a medal to Simon Bolivar.

Nobel Peace Prize Transfer Rules

• 🚫 Legally and officially, the Nobel Peace Prize cannot be transferred, shared, or reassigned to another person once it has been awarded.
• ✅ The Nobel Foundation and Norwegian Nobel Committee publicly clarify that once a Nobel Prize is announced, the decision is final, irreversible, and stands for all time.

Physical Medal vs. Official Status

• 🎁 A laureate may do whatever they wish with the physical medal, diploma, or prize money, including selling, donating, or giving them away.
• 📜 However, donating or gifting the physical prize does not alter who is officially recorded in history as the Nobel laureate.
• 📌 Past examples include Kofi Annan's widow donating his medal to the United Nations and Knut Hamsun giving his medal to Joseph Goebbels, with their official laureate status remaining unchanged.

Past Nobel Controversies

• ⚠️ The awards to Henry Kissinger in 1973 and Barack Obama in 2009 were among the most debated selections for the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 💥 Kissinger's award was highly controversial due to the ongoing Vietnam War and his actions, leading to the resignation of two committee members.
• 🗣️ Obama's award, given less than a year into his presidency, was criticized as premature by critics and by Donald Trump, who claimed Obama received it for