Miguel de Cervantes Prize

The Miguel de Cervantes Prize (Premio de Literatura en Lengua Castellana Miguel de Cervantes) is awarded annually to honour the lifetime achievement of an outstanding writer in the Spanish language.

History
The prize was established in 1975 by the Ministry of Culture of Spain and first awarded the following year. The Encyclopædia Britannica calls it "most prestigious and remunerative award given for Spanish-language literature". The winner receives a monetary award of 125,000 euros, which makes it one of the richest literary prizes in the world. The prize rewards authors from any Spanish-speaking nation and recognizes the recipient's overall body of work. The award is named after Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote. The candidates are proposed by the Association of Spanish Language Academies (ie. the Royal Spanish Academy).

The Cervantes Prize and the Nobel Prize in Literature
Two winners of the Cervantes Prize, Octavio Paz (Cervantes 1981, Nobel 1990) and Mario Vargas Llosa (Cervantes 1994, Nobel 2010), were awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in subsequent years. Camilo José Cela first received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1989 and was awarded the Cervantes Prize in 1995.

Laureates
The list of winners is available at the official Premio 'Miguel Cervantes' website.