2025 saw the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado for her commitment to democratic rights and political transition in Venezuela. Machado, figure of reference against Nicolás Maduro’s regimereceived the prestigious recognition last October in Oslo, as a symbol of nonviolent struggle in a context of strong repression.
The news that has dominated the international media in recent days, however, concerns an unprecedented gesture: Machado presented the President of the United States, Donald Trump, with his Nobel Peace medal during a meeting at the White House on January 15, 2026. The gesture was described by Machado as an act of recognition and gratitude for the US action that led to the capture of Maduro and, according to her, the opening of a new phase for Venezuela. Trump thanked him, calling it “a wonderful gesture of mutual respect.”
However, the dynamic quickly raised a lively media and institutional debate, because the medal and the title of Nobel Peace Prize are not the same thingand the rules governing the awarding of the prize are very clear.
The Nobel position: the prize does not transfer
The Norwegian Nobel Committee and the Nobel Institute in Oslo have issued official statements recalling that, according to the statutes of the Nobel Foundation, Once awarded, a prize cannot be revoked, shared, or transferred to othersand the decision is final. This also applies in the case of a donation or gift of physical recognition.
The distinction is important: the medal and the diploma are personal possessions of the winner and can be donated, lent or even sold or auctioned, but the title of “Nobel laureate” remains an official and permanent recognition for the person to whom it was awarded; there is no formal mechanism for passing or sharing the prize itself with others.
The Nobel Peace Prize is decided by a committee appointed by the Norwegian Parliament and published every year in October; once announced, there are no appeals or legal tools to change the outcome.
What does the medal given to Trump mean?
Machado’s gesture – physically handing the medal to President Trump – is symbolic: the medal as an object can change hands, but in no way transfers the official status of Nobel Peace Prize. In other words, Trump is not and will not be a 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner, even if he displays the medal in a frame in the White House.
The situation led to an explicit clarification from the Nobel Committee: «A medal can change owners, but the title of Nobel Peace Prize never changes. The decision is final and permanent».
In the history of the Nobel Prize it is not entirely unheard of for a medal or diploma to have been given away or sold. The most cited case concerns Ernest Hemingway, Nobel Prize winner for Literature in 1954, who donated his medal and diploma to the people of Cubato mark a link with the Caribbean country. This medal was also later stolen and found, but its title obviously remained associated with Hemingway.
These episodes demonstrate that the symbolic value of material objects can be distinguished from the institutional dimension of the award, which always remains linked to the person and the decision of the committee that awarded it.
There is a political dynamic behind Machado’s gesture: many international observers interpret ithe awarding the medal to Trump as a move aimed at seeking support in the United States for his role in Venezuela’s political future. According to some reconstructions, the Venezuelan leader would have hoped for a strengthening of her political role after the fall of Maduro; an initiative which, however, has also been criticized even within the opposition.
From the point of view of international recognition, the Nobel remains in Machado’s hands as a symbol of his civil activism, but the speed with which the episode made the rounds in the media reflects the overall fragility of the meaning of the “peace prize” in a polarized and politicized world, where the prestige of an award can be exploited or misunderstood.
