The Miguel de Cervantes Prize (Spanish: 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. The Encyclopædia Britannica calls it the "most prestigious and remunerative award given for Spanish-language literature".^[1]

The prize was established in 1975 by the Ministry of Culture of Spain and first awarded the following year.^[1] The winner receives a monetary award of 125,000 euros, which makes it one of the richest literary prizes in the world.^[2] The prize rewards authors from any Spanish-speaking nation and recognizes the recipient's overall body of work.^[1] Of the forty-seven prizes awarded in the history of the Cervantes Prize, only six have ever been awarded to women. In 1988, the Spanish writer María Zambrano (1904–1991) was the first female writer to be honored. The award is named after Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote.^[2] The candidates are proposed by the Association of Spanish Language Academies (i.e., the Royal Spanish Academy).^[3]

As of the presentation of the 2024 award to Álvaro Pombo, the recipients have been recognized for their writing of novels, poetry, short stories, essays, translations, philosophy or dramas – or for combinations thereof. With two winners in 1979, there have been 50 recipients of the Miguel de Cervantes Prize.

Three of the 50 winners of the Miguel de Cervantes Prize have also won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Octavio Paz (Cervantes 1981, Nobel 1990) and Mario Vargas Llosa (Cervantes 1994, Nobel 2010), were awarded the Nobel Prize in subsequent years, while Camilo José Cela received the Nobel Prize in 1989 and was awarded the Cervantes Prize in 1995.

The Cervantes Prize has received heavy criticisms on omitting notable writers deemed worthy and favored in literary circles such as Miguel Mihura (1905–1977), Blas de Otero (1916–1979), Eduardo Mallea (1903–1982), Ramón José Sender (1901–1982), José Bergamín (1895–1983), Luis Buñuel (1900–1983), Vicente Aleixandre (1898–1984), Julio Cortázar (1914–1984), Juan Rulfo (1917–1986), Nicolás Guillén (1902–1989), Jaime Gil de Biedma (1929–1990), Manuel Puig (1932–1990), Gabriel Celaya (1911–1991), Juan Benet (1927–1993), Juan Gil-Albert (1904–1994), Carlos Lleras Restrepo (1908–1994), José Donoso (1924–1996), Germán Arciniegas (1900–1999), Enrique Anderson Imbert (1910–2000), Francisco Matos Paoli (1915–2000), José Ángel Valente (1929–2000), Juan José Arreola (1918–2001), Juan Bosch (1909–2001), Rafael Lapesa (1908–2001), Arturo Uslar Pietri (1906–2001), Pablo Antonio Cuadra (1912–2002), Augusto Monterroso (1921–2003), Manuel Vázquez Montalbán (1939–2003), Elvio Romero (1926–2004), Enrique Laguerre (1906–2005), Salvador Elizondo (1932–2006), Mario Benedetti (1920–2009), Antonio Cisneros (1942–2012), José Luis Sampedro (1917–2013), Gabriel García Márquez (1927–2014), Carlos Bousoño (1923–2015), Javier Marías (1951–2022), and Alfredo Bryce Echenique (1939–2026).^[4][5][6]

In terms of sex, the prize has been criticized for its slow recognition of women writers who contributed largely in Spanish and Latin American literature.^[7][8] The omission of Juana de Ibarbourou (1892–1979), Victoria Ocampo (1890–1979), María Luisa Bombal (1910–1980), Aurora de Albornoz (1926–1990), Silvina Ocampo (1903–1993), Rosa Chacel (1898–1994), Gloria Fuertes (1917–1998), Elena Garro (1916–1998), Carmen Martín Gaite (1925–2000), Carmen Laforet (1921–2004), Alicia Ghiragossian (1936–2014), Luz Pozo Garza (1922–2020) and Fina García Marruz (1923–2022) were criticized.^[7][8] As of 2021, six women have been awarded.

In recent years, the favorites to receive the prize include Margo Glantz (1930–), Fernando Arrabal (1932–), Circe Maia (1932–), Manlio Argueta (1935–), Luis Goytisolo (1935–), Guillermo Gómez Rivera (1936–), Luisa Valenzuela (1938–), Álvaro Pombo (1939–), Homero Aridjis (1940–), Clara Janés (1940–), Isabel Allende (1942–), Fernando Vallejo (1942–), Félix de Azúa (1944–), Nancy Morejón (1944–), Pere Gimferrer (1945–), Isabel de los Ángeles Ruano (1945–), Juan José Millás (1946–), Diamela Eltit (1947–), Soledad Puértolas (1947–), Fernando Savater (1947–), Gioconda Belli (1948–), Luis Landero (1948–), Carme Riera (1948–), Enrique Vila-Matas (1948–), César Aira (1949–), Ángeles Mastretta (1949–), Joaquín Sabina (1949–), Raúl Zurita (1950–), Piedad Bonnett (1951–), Rosa Montero (1951–), Arturo Pérez-Reverte (1951–), René Vázquez Díaz (1952–), Julio Llamazares (1955–), Leonardo Padura (1955–), Antonio Muñoz Molina (1956–), Zoé Valdés (1959–) and Javier Cercas (1962–).^{[9][10][11][12]}

The list of winners is available at the official Premio 'Miguel Cervantes' website.^[13]

The following table shows the number of laureates per country:

• Miguel de Cervantes Prize at the Ministry of Culture
• Portal dedicado al Premio Cervantes El poder de la palabra (in Spanish)