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Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado presents her Nobel Peace Prize to US President Donald Trump during a meeting at the Oval Office, in Washington, DC. Source: X/@WhiteHouse
The Nobel Peace Prize remains inseparably linked to the person or organisation designated as the laureate, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said on Friday (January 16, 2026), one day after last year’s winner gave part of her award to U.S. President Donald Trump.
The 2025 laureate, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, on Thursday gave her Nobel Peace Prize medal to Mr. Trump, who thanked her for it.
The White House posted a photo of Trump and Machado with the president holding up a large, gold-coloured frame displaying the medal, and a White House official confirmed that the president intends to keep the it.
In addition to the gold medal, Ms. Machado’s award also consisted of a diploma and 11 million Swedish crowns ($1.19 million).
“Regardless of what may happen to the medal, the diploma, or the prize money, it is and remains the original laureate who is recorded in history as the recipient of the prize,” the award body said in a statement.
“There are no restrictions in the statutes of the Nobel Foundation on what a laureate may do with the medal, the diploma, or the prize money. This means that a laureate is free to keep, give away, sell, or donate these items,” it added.
Published – January 17, 2026 05:27 am IST
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Nobel Peace Prize inseparable from laureate, award body says after Trump gets medal from Machado
