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Nobel Prize cannot be 'passed on' to others, Nobel Foundation says
Jan. 18, 2026
USA Today
While President Donald Trump might have the medal in hand, the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado cannot be redistributed to him, the Nobel Foundation said in a statement following Machado's move to present the president with the award at their Jan. 15 meeting at the White House.
Machado's decision to give Trump the award does not change the recipient of the prize, the Nobel Foundation said in a statement on Jan. 16. The Nobel Foundation aims to "safeguard the dignity of the Nobel Prizes and their administration" and uphold "Alfred Nobel’s will and its stipulations," the statement said.
"...the prizes shall be awarded to those who 'have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind,' and it specifies who has the right to award each respective prize," the statement reads. "A prize can therefore not, even symbolically, be passed on or further distributed."
Machado was granted the award in October 2025. Trump openly lobbied to be awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, but the honor was instead given to Machado for her "efforts to advance democracy in Venezuela,” the Nobel Committee said when she won, including in "the face of ever-expanding authoritarianism in Venezuela," the Nobel Prize outreach website states.
Machado was blocked in 2024 from running in Venezuela's presidential election by the regime of President Nicolás Maduro, and instead supported the opposition’s alternative candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia. Maduro and González both declared victory in the July 2024 presidential election, but many foreign leaders, including Trump, have questioned or rejected the legitimacy of Maduro's win over González.
(https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/01/18/nobel-peace-prize-cannot-be-passed-on/88243677007/)
Jan. 18, 2026
USA Today
While President Donald Trump might have the medal in hand, the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado cannot be redistributed to him, the Nobel Foundation said in a statement following Machado's move to present the president with the award at their Jan. 15 meeting at the White House.
Machado's decision to give Trump the award does not change the recipient of the prize, the Nobel Foundation said in a statement on Jan. 16. The Nobel Foundation aims to "safeguard the dignity of the Nobel Prizes and their administration" and uphold "Alfred Nobel’s will and its stipulations," the statement said.
"...the prizes shall be awarded to those who 'have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind,' and it specifies who has the right to award each respective prize," the statement reads. "A prize can therefore not, even symbolically, be passed on or further distributed."
Machado was granted the award in October 2025. Trump openly lobbied to be awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, but the honor was instead given to Machado for her "efforts to advance democracy in Venezuela,” the Nobel Committee said when she won, including in "the face of ever-expanding authoritarianism in Venezuela," the Nobel Prize outreach website states.
Machado was blocked in 2024 from running in Venezuela's presidential election by the regime of President Nicolás Maduro, and instead supported the opposition’s alternative candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia. Maduro and González both declared victory in the July 2024 presidential election, but many foreign leaders, including Trump, have questioned or rejected the legitimacy of Maduro's win over González.
(https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/01/18/nobel-peace-prize-cannot-be-passed-on/88243677007/)
Statement from the Nobel Foundation
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) January 18, 2026
One of the core missions of the Nobel Foundation is to safeguard the dignity of the Nobel Prizes and their administration. The Foundation upholds Alfred Nobel’s will and its stipulations. It states that the prizes shall be awarded to those who… pic.twitter.com/WIadOBLtpD
