Many literary awards give significant remunerations. This is a list of active literary awards from around the world with a prize of at least or equivalent. Although global in scope and comprising over 35 awards, most of the prizes are in only four currencies: United Arab Emirates dirham, Swedish krona, Euro, and United States dollar.
| Equivalent in US$ (January 2020) | Prize amount | Prize name | Type | Host country | Primary language | Notes | Ref(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,361,210 | UAE | Arabic | Award for a single poem. Total prizes for 2nd to 5th positions are $2,723,000. Sister prize of Prince of Poets | [1] | ||||
| 1,160,000 | Premio Planeta de Novela (winner) | Book | Spain | Spanish | See also runner-up of same prize. | [2] | ||
| 1,043,751 | Nobel Prize in Literature | Author | Sweden | Any | There are five Nobel Prizes of 9 million kronor each. | [3] | ||
| 524,527 | Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award | Author | Sweden | Any | [4] | |||
| 300,000 | The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize | Author* | United States | English | Open to all arts, not just writers. | [5] | ||
| 277,898 | International Ibsen Award | Author* | Norway | Any | Any drama and theater position eligible, not just writers. | [6] | ||
| 272,242 | Prince of Poets | UAE | Arabic | Award for a single poem. Sister prize of Million's Poet | [7] | |||
| 260,000 | Katara Prize for Arabic Novel | Book | Qatar | Arabic | Plus 4 winners of $60,000 and 5 of $30,000. Total prize pool is $650,000 | [8] | ||
| 250,000 | Carlos Fuentes International Prize for Literary Creation in the Spanish Language | Author | Mexico | Spanish | [9] | |||
| 221,097 | Prix mondial Cino Del Duca | Author | France | Any | ||||
| 211,743 | Sheikh Zayed Book Award | Book | United Arab Emirates | Arabic | 9 awards for a total of AD7,000,000 | [10] | A164104106 | |
| 200,000 | Saudi King Abdullah International Award for Translation | Author | Saudi Arabia | Arabic | 5 awards of 200,000 each (1 million total) | [11] | ||
| 175,000 | Alfaguara Prize | Book | Spain | Spanish | [12] | |||
| 165,822 | Premio Planeta de Novela (runner-up) | Book | Spain | Spanish | See also winner of same prize. | [13] | ||
| 175,000 | Windham–Campbell Literature Prizes | Author | United States | English | Composed of eight awards of $175,000 each. | [14] [15] | ||
| 150,000 | Lannan Literary Awards | Author | United States | English | Composed of three awards of $150,000 each. Prize amount last verified for 2007. | [16] | ||
| 150,000 | FIL Literature Award | Author | Mexico | Spanish | [17] | |||
| 147,927 | Sonning Prize | Author* | Denmark | Any | Open to all arts not just writers. | [18] | ||
| 138,180 | Miguel de Cervantes Prize | Author | Spain | Spanish | [19] | |||
| 138,180 | RBA Prize for Crime Writing | Book | Spain | Any | [20] | |||
| 132,653 | Premio de Novela Fernando Lara | Book | Spain | Spanish | [21] | |||
| 110,544 | Rómulo Gallegos Prize | Book | Venezuela | Spanish | [22] | |||
| 110,544 | Premio Primavera de Novela | Book | Spain | Spanish | [23] | |||
| 110,544 | International Dublin Literary Award | Book | Ireland | English | [24] | |||
| 110,544 | Premio Novela Histórica Alfonso X El Sabio | Book | Spain | Spanish | [25] | |||
| 110,544 | Camões Prize | Author | Portugal Brazil | Portuguese | [26] | |||
| 110,544 | Prémio Leya | Book | Portugal | Portuguese | [27] [28] [29] | |||
| 100,000 | Premio de Traducción Literaria Tomás Segovia | Author | Mexico | Spanish | Translator award | [30] | ||
| 100,000 | Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding | Book | Qatar | Arabic | Translation award. Total award value is $2 million. | [31] | ||
| 100,000 | Nigeria Prize for Literature | Book | Nigeria | English | [32] [33] | |||
| 100,000 | Pritzker Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing | Author | United States | English | [34] | |||
| 100,000 | Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize | Author | United States | English | [35] [36] | |||
| 100,000 | Wallace Stevens Award | Author | United States | English | [37] | |||
| 100,000 | Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature | Book | United States | English | [38] | |||
| 100,000 | The Kingsley and Kate Tufts Poetry Awards | Author | United States | English | [39] | |||
| 100,000 | Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais Cultural Awards | Author | United Arab Emirates | Arabic | Composed of five awards of $100,000 each. | [40] | ||
| 100,000 | Park Kyong-ni Prize | Author | South Korea | Any | [41] |
Key
The following awards have a superlative claim within certain defined categories, as described and sourced in the Notes column.
| Equivalent in US$ (April 2016) | Prize amount | Prize name | Type | Host country | Primary language | Claim | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 524,527 | Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award | Children's literature | Sweden | Any | The richest children's literature prize in the world.[42] | ||
| 138,180 | RBA Prize for Crime Writing | Crime fiction | Spain | Any | "The world's most lucrative crime fiction prize." | ||
| 75,000 | Cundill History Prize | Non-fiction and history | Canada | English | "the world's largest non-fiction purse"[43] | ||
| 55,270 | Premio de Narrativa Breve Ribera del Duero | Short story collection | Spain | Spanish | "the largest in the world for a competition of this kind".[44] | ||
| 39,358 | Sunday Times Short Story Award | Short story | United Kingdom | English | "The world's richest short story prize" (single short story).[45] | ||
| 38,081 | Montreal International Poetry Prize | Poetry | Canada | Any | Thought to be the world's richest award for a single-poem.[46] |