Balzan Prize in World Literature

Eligibility

The four Balzan Prizes are awarded to scholars, artists and scientists who have distinguished themselves in their fields on an international level.

Summary

The Balzan Prizes are chosen by the General Prize Committee in two general subject areas: Literature, Moral Sciences and the Arts; and the Physical, Mathematical and Natural Sciences and Medicine.

The General Prize Committee announced that the 2023 Balzan Prizes will be awarded in the following fields:

• World Literature
• Evolution of Humankind: Paleoanthropology
• Evolution of Humankind: Ancient DNA and Human Evolution
• High resolution images: from planetary to cosmic objects

Each of the four 2023 Balzan Prizes is worth 750,000 Swiss francs.

In 2001, the Articles of the Balzan Foundation made a stipulation that prizewinners must destine half of the prize to finance research projects that are preferably carried out by young scholars or scientists.

Application deadlines

Program application deadline

The General Prize Committee of the “Prize” Foundation invites the most prestigious international cultural and scientific institutions (universities, research institutes and academies) and figures recognized by the General Prize Committee as highly distinguished in the chosen fields for that year to submit names of candidates for the four annual Balzan Prizes.

Nomination Package

• a statement of reasons for the nomination (in English, German, French or Italian), including mention of particularly important publications; 
• for candidates in the social sciences and the humanities, a bibliography, including the above‐ mentioned publications, citing publisher and publication year, and adding translations of original titles should there be works translated into other languages;
• a list of 10 to 20 of their most important publications (with full bibliographical citation) for candidates in the sciences;
• a curriculum vitae specifying present position, main academic activities, date and place of birth, nationality, residence and address;
• a recent photograph (high resolution, jpg by email to balzan@balzan.it) with indication of copyright if applicable.

Submission

All of the above documentation should be addressed to the

Chairman of the General Prize Committee

Professor Luciano Maiani

Attention: Secretariat of the International Balzan Foundation “Prize”

P.tta U. Giordano 4 I‐20122 Milano, Italia

balzan@balzan.it  

Nominations must be submitted by 15 March of the relevant year and supported by justification for the candidate’s nomination, including a list of his/her most important publications and a complete biography. Self-nominations are not accepted.