The Stig Dagerman Prize (Swedish: Stig Dagermanpriset) is a Swedish award given since 1996 by the Stig Dagerman Society and Älvkarleby municipality.[1] It is named in honor of Swedish author Stig Dagerman.[1] The award is given to a person who, or an organization that, in the spirit of Stig Dagerman, supports the significance and availability of the "free word" (freedom of speech), promoting inter-cultural understanding and empathy.[2] It was inspired by Dagerman's poem En dag om året that sets forth a vision of peace for humanity by imagining one day each year when the world is free from violence.[2]
The award ceremony takes place the first weekend in June each year at Laxön in Älvkarleby. The prize is kr 50,000.[2] On two occasions, 2004 and 2008, the prize winner subsequently won the Nobel Prize in Literature in the same year.[2]