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The Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday reiterated that a Nobel Prize once awarded cannot be shared, transferred, or revoked under any circumstances. The Nobel Committee issued the clarification a day after Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who won the 2025 Peace Prize, gifted her medal in a frame to US President Trump during their meeting at the Oval Office on Thursday.
“The medal and the diploma are the physical symbols confirming that an individual or organisation has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The prize itself – the honour and recognition – remains inseparably linked to the person or organisation designated as the laureate by the Norwegian Nobel Committee,” the statement said.
It noted that even if the medal ends up in the possession of someone other than the laureate, it doesn’t change the recorded history.
“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. Even if the medal or diploma later comes into someone else’s possession, this does not alter who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize,” it said.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee also said that several Nobel laureates in the past have also given away or sold their medals.
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58-year-old Machado was awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for her campaign for greater democracy in Venezuela. However, this did not go down well with Trump, who had been demanding the Nobel Peace Prize for himself, claiming that he had stopped at least eight wars around the world.
It is widely believed that it was this resentment that resulted in Trump not endorsing Machado’s name as the interim leader of Venezuela after the US captured President Nicolas Maduro earlier this month.
Machado, on her part, has tried to be on Trump’s good side by dedicating the Nobel Prize to the ‘suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump’.
This recognition of the struggle of all Venezuelans is a boost to conclude our task: to conquer Freedom.
We are on the threshold of victory and today, more than ever, we count on President Trump, the people of the United States, the peoples of Latin America, and the democratic…
— María Corina Machado (@MariaCorinaYA) October 10, 2025
Machado, who gifted her medal to Trump, on Thursday said it was in recognition of what she called his commitment to the freedom of the Venezuelan people.
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Trump, who thanked Machado, said it was for the work he had done.
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“Maria presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect. Thank you, Maria!” he said on Truth Social.
The White House later posted a photo of Trump and Machado with the president holding up a large, gold-coloured frame displaying the medal.
President Donald J. Trump meets with María Corina Machado of Venezuela in the Oval Office, during which she presented the President with her Nobel Peace Prize in recognition and honor.🕊️ pic.twitter.com/v7pYHjVNVO
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 16, 2026
Accompanying text read, “To President Donald J. Trump In Gratitude for Your Extraordinary Leadership in Promoting Peace through Strength,” and labelled the gesture as a “Personal Symbol of Gratitude on behalf of the Venezuelan People.”
