Sonning Prize

This article is about the culture prize. For the music prize, see Léonie Sonning Music Prize.

The Sonning Prize (Danish: Sonningprisen) is a Danish culture prize awarded biennially for outstanding contributions to European culture.[1] It is named after the Danish editor and author Carl Johan Sonning (1879–1937), who established the prize by his will.

A prize was first awarded in 1950 to Winston Churchill.[2] However, a sequence of annual awards in this name was established in 1959 with the award to Albert Schweitzer followed by Bertrand Russell in 1960, the criterion being someone who "has accomplished meritorious work for the advancement of European civilization", and judged by a committee of the Senate of the University of Copenhagen.[3] From 1971, it was awarded every second year.[4]

Prize winners are chosen by a committee chaired by the rector of the University of Copenhagen which decides on laureates from a selection of candidates proposed by European universities. The prize amounts to DKK 1 million (~€135,000) and the award ceremony is always held on or around 19 April (Sonning's birthday) in Copenhagen.[5]

  1. ^ "Michael Haneke: Sonning Prize Laureate 2014". AUSTRIAN FILMS (in German). Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  2. ^ "CHURCHILL HONORED TRIPLY IN DENMARK". The New York Times. 11 October 1950. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  3. ^ Hjelmslev, Louis (2003). "Address Delivered at the University of Copenhagen on the Occasion of the Award of the Sonning Prize to Bertrand Russell, 19 April 1960". Russell: The Journal of Bertrand Russell Studies. 23 (2). Project MUSE: 154–160. doi:10.1353/rss.2003.0002. ISSN 1913-8032.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Store norske leksikon 2023 d241 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Sonning Prize". University of Copenhagen. 7 June 2023. Retrieved 7 October 2023.