Balzan Prizes

Sponsor

International Balzan Prize Foundation

Sponsor deadline:

Award Details

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

The 2026 Balzan Prizes will be awarded in the following fields:

  • The Social Science of Digital Technology
  • Jewish Studies
  • Biodegradable Polymers from Renewable Sources
  • Molecular Evolution: Decoding Patterns of Genomic Change

Each of the four 2026 Balzan Prizes is 750,000 Swiss francs. Half the Prize money will be awarded to the Prizewinner in recognition of her/his work. The other half will be destined by the Prizewinner to a research project involving young researchers or research groups.

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The Balzan Prize’s aim is to foster culture, the sciences and the most meritorious initiatives in the cause of humanity, peace and fraternity among peoples throughout the world. 

Nominations are by invitation.

The Prizes are awarded in the subject areas:

  • literature, moral sciences, and the arts;
  • physical, mathematical and natural sciences and medicine;
  • humanities, peace and fraternity among peoples.

The four subject areas, two in literature, the moral sciences and the arts, and two in the physical, mathematical and natural sciences and medicine, change every year. No more than four prizes may be awarded in any one year. 

As stipulated in the Articles of the Foundation, the frequency of the special Prize for Humanity, Peace and Fraternity among Peoples is normally at intervals of no less than three years.


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