The Holberg Prize

The Holberg Prize recognises path-breaking scientific work in the humanities, social sciences, law and theology. The prize shall in addition contribute to raising the status of these disciplines in society and to stimulating interest in these fields among children and young people.

The prize is administered by a board appointed by the University of Bergen, on behalf of the Ministry of Education and Research. The prize value is 6 million NOK.

Holberg Prize laureates

2024 Achille Mbembe
2023 Joan Martinez-Alier
2022 Sheila Jasanoff
2021 Martha C. Nussbaum
2020 Griselda Pollock
2019 Paul Gilroy
2018 Cass R. Sunstein
2017 Onora O'Neill
2016 Stephen Greenblatt
2015 Marina Warner
2014 Michael Cook
2013 Bruno Latour
2012 Manuel Castells
2011 Jürgen Heinz Kocka
2010 Natalie Z. Davis
2009 Ian Hacking
2008 Fredric Jameson
2007 Ronald Dworkin
2006 Shmuel N. Eisenstadt
2005 Jürgen Habermas
2004 Julia Kristeva

Ludvig Holberg

Ludvig Holberg (1684–1754) was a Danish-Norwegian writer and scholar. He was born in Bergen in Norway, and studied and worked in Denmark. He held the Chairs of Metaphysics and Logic, Latin Rhetoric and History at the University of Copenhagen, and also studied theology and law.

The Nils Klim Prize

The Nils Klim Prize is awarded to researchers in or from the Nordic countries aged under 35 and within the same fields as the Holberg Prize.

Nils Klim Prize Laureates

2023

Simona Zetterberg-Nielsen

2022

Elisa Katariina Uusimäki

2021

Daria Gritsenko

2020

Fredrik Poulsen

2019

Finnur Dellsén

2018

Francesca R. Jensenius 

2017

Katrine Vellesen Løken

2016

Sanja Bogojević

2015

Rebecca Adler-Nissen

2014

Terje Lohndal

2013

Ingvild Almås

2012

Sara Hobolt

2011

Jørn Jacobsen

2010

Johan Östling

2009

David Bloch

2008

Anne Birgitta Pessi

2007

Carina Keskitalo

2006

Linda Wedlin

2005

Dag Trygve Truslew Haug

2004

Claes de Vreese

The Holberg Prize Week

The Holberg Prize and the Nils Klim Prize are awarded annually in the beginning of June at the University Aula in Bergen. The week consists of several event such as the Laureate Lecture and symposium. The Government hosts a banquet in honour of the laureates in the Håkons Hall in Bergen.

H.R.H. Kronprins Haakon Magnus presents the 2017 Holberg Prize to Onora O’Neill

The Holberg Prize 2017 (Photo: Thor Brødreskift/The Holberg Prize)