The Miguel de Cervantes Prize

Premio Miguel de Cervantes (the Miguel de Cervantes Prize) is awarded annually to honor the lifetime achievement of an outstanding writer in the Spanish language. The prize is similar to the Booker prize in that it rewards authors from multiple (in this case Spanish speaking) nations. Unlike the Booker prize it is awarded only once in recognition of the recipients overall body of work and is therefore regarded as a type of Nobel Prize in Literature in the Spanish language. It is named after Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote.

The candidates are proposed by the Language Academies of the Spanish-speaking countries, and the prize is awarded by the Ministry of Culture of Spain.

The winner receives a monetary award of 90,000 euros.

Winner list:

2006 Antonio Gamoneda (Spain)
2005 Sergio Pitol (Mexico)
2004 Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio (Spain)
2003 Gonzalo Rojas (Chile)
2002 José Jiménez Lozano (Spain)
2001 Álvaro Mutis (Colombia)
2000 Francisco Umbral (Spain)
1999 Jorge Edwards (Chile)
1998 José Hierro (Spain)
1997 Guillermo Cabrera Infante (Cuba)
1996 José García Nieto (Spain)
1995 Camilo José Cela (Spain)
1994 Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru)
1993 Miguel Delibes (Spain)
1992 Dulce María Loynaz (Cuba)
1991 Francisco Ayala (Spain)
1990 Adolfo Bioy Casares (Argentina)
1989 Augusto Roa Bastos (Paraguay)
1988 María Zambrano (Spain)
1987 Carlos Fuentes (Mexico, born in Panama)
1986 Antonio Buero Vallejo (Spain)
1985 Gonzalo Torrente Ballester (Spain)
1984 Ernésto Sábato (Argentina)
1983 Rafael Alberti (Spain)
1982 Luis Rosales (Spain)
1981 Octavio Paz (Mexico)
1980 Juan Carlos Onetti (Uruguay)
1979 Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina) and Gerardo Diego (Spain)
1978 Dámaso Alonso (Spain)
1977 Alejo Carpentier (Cuba)
1976 Jorge Guillén (Spain)