The Nobel Peace Center recalled this Thursday that the Nobel Peace Prize cannot be transferred or shared. Although the physical medal can change owners, The title of the award remains definitively with the person who was officially recognized.
The clarification was published on social networks hours before the Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado will present his medal to the president of the United States Donald Trump.
“A medal can change owners, but the title of a Nobel Peace Prize cannot,” the center noted on its social networks.
In his message, he explained that the Nobel Peace medal It measures 6.6 centimeters in diameter, weighs 196 grams and is minted in gold.
On its obverse presents a portrait of Alfred Nobel and on the reverse an image of three naked men embraced by the shoulders as a symbol of brotherhood, a design that has remained unchanged for more than 120 years.
The institution recalled that there are precedents for medals that have passed from generation to generation or have been sold or donated for charitable purposes. Among the best-known cases is that of Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov, who auctioned his medal for more than 100 million dollars to support refugees from the war in Ukraine.
He also specified that the medal exhibited at the Nobel Peace Center originally belongs to Christian Lous Lange, the first Norwegian to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and is on loan.
However, the organization stressed: “Once a Nobel Prize has been announced, it cannot be revoked, shared or transferred to others. The decision is final and lasts forever.”
The #NobelPeacePrize medal.
It measures 6.6 cm in diameter, weighs 196 grams and is struck in gold. On its face, a portrait of Alfred Nobel and on its reverse, three naked men holding around each other’s shoulders as a sign of brotherhood. A design unchanged for 120 years.
Did… pic.twitter.com/Jdjgf3Ud2A
— Nobel Peace Center (@NobelPeaceOslo) January 15, 2026
Presentation of the medal to Trump
The clarification occurred before the meeting between Machado and Trump at the White House. During a private lunch, the Venezuelan leader presented the American president with the Nobel Peace Prize medal, framed with gold details.
It was accompanied by a message of gratitude from Venezuelans for his “extraordinary leadership to promote peace” and for his actions aimed at the freedom of Venezuela.
The opposition leader explained that she was inspired in a historical fact for the country: the Liberator Simón Bolívar kept throughout his life a medal with the face of George Washington, first president of the United States, given to him by Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette.
“200 years later The people of Bolívar are returning a medal to the leader of Washington, in this case the Nobel Peace Prize medal, in recognition of his special commitment to our freedom,” said Machado.
The meeting took place 12 days after the capture of Nicolás Maduro in Caracas by US armed forces.
After the meeting, Machado assured that Trump was committed to the release of political prisoners and the freedom of all Venezuelans. For his part, the US president described Machado as “a wonderful woman” and He thanked the gift, which he described as a “display of mutual respect,” in a message posted on Truth Social.
The gesture receives criticism in Norway
The awarding of the medal generated strong criticism from politicians from different Norwegian parties, who insisted that the gesture does not make Trump a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Former Foreign Minister and liberal MP Ine Eriksen Søreide told public television NRK that “although Trump has received the medal, “That doesn’t mean he won the Nobel Peace Prize.”
Likewise, the leader of the Centrist Party, Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, pointed out that accepting the medal shows that Trump acts as “someone who tries to appropriate the distinctions and work of others.”
The leader of the Socialist Left Party, Kirsti Bergstø, described the episode as “absurd and meaningless”, while Bjørnar Moxnes, foreign policy spokesman for the Red party, regretted that the medal is now in Trump’s office and considered the fact a foreseeable consequence of the Nobel Committee’s decision.
Moxnes also proposed reforming the Nobel Peace Committee so that its members are chosen based on their qualifications.
Furthermore, the former mayor of Oslo and former Labor leader Raymond Johanssen, current head of the NGO Norwegian People’s Aid, He described what happened as “incredibly embarrassing and damaging.” for one of the most recognized awards in the world.
Norwegian media recalled that other winners have given away or sold their medals in the past, as happened in 2022 with Muratov, or in the case of the writer Knut Hamsun, who He sent his medal in 1943 to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.
