Pessoa Prize Explained

The Pessoa Prize (Portuguese: Prémio Pessoa, pronounced as /pt/), named after Fernando Pessoa, is recognized as the most important award in the area of Portuguese culture.^[1] Created in 1987 by the newspaper Expresso and the IT company Unisys, since 2008 the prize has been sponsored by Caixa Geral de Depósitos. It is granted annually to the Portuguese person who during this period, and in the course of previous activity, has distinguished him or herself as a figure in scientific, artistic, or literary life.

List of prize winners

• 1987 – José Mattoso, historian
• 1988 –, poet
• 1989 – Maria João Pires, pianist
• 1990 – Menez, painter
• 1991 –, archaeologist
• 1992 – António Damásio and Hanna Damásio, neurophysiologists
• 1993 –, philosopher and poet
• 1994 – Herberto Helder, poet – refused the award
• 1995 – Vasco Graça Moura, essayist
• 1996 – João Lobo Antunes, neurosurgeon
• 1997 – José Cardoso Pires, writer
• 1998 – Eduardo Souto de Moura, architect
• 1999 – Manuel Alegre, poet, and José Manuel Rodrigues, photographer
• 2000 – Emmanuel Nunes, composer
• 2001 –, president of the Cinemateca Portuguesa—Museu do Cinema, and a film historian
• 2002 –, scientist (medicine)
• 2003 –, constitutionalist
• 2004 –, writer
• 2005 – Luís Miguel Cintra, actor and set designer
• 2006 – António Câmara, professor and founder of the YDreams IT firm
• 2007 – Irene Flunser Pimentel, historian
• 2008 – Carrilho da Graça, architect
• 2009 – Manuel Clemente, Catholic Church prelate
• 2010 – Maria do Carmo Fonseca, scientist and Professor of the School of Medicine of Santa Maria
• 2011 – Eduardo Lourenço, essayist
• 2012 – Richard Zenith, writer and translator
• 2013 – Maria Manuel Mota, scientist (biomedicine)
• 2014 –, Physicist, Professor and researcher in the field of History of Sciences ^[2]
• 2015 –, sculptor
• 2016 –, writer and translator
• 2017 –, architect
• 2018 –, scientist (biogeographer)
• 2019 – Tiago Rodrigues, theatre director
• 2020 – Elvira Fortunato, scientist (engineering)
• 2021 - Tiago Pitta e Cunha, jurist specialized in ocean issues
• 2022 –, poet and plastic surgeon

External links

• Prémio Pessoa

Notes and References

1. Web site: Prémio Pessoa . Portuguese . Infopédia online, Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2012 . 17 December 2012.
2. News: Henrique Leitão wins Prémio Pessoa. 12 December 2014. Expresso newspaper. 12 December 2014. Portuguese.