The Norwegian Nobel Institute has issued a clear statement that the honor of a Nobel Prize remains permanently attached to the original recipient, following an unusual incident involving a recent Peace Prize medal.

The clarification came after Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, presented her gold medal to U.S. President Donald Trump. The gift occurred on Thursday, following the U.S. military operation that resulted in the capture and removal of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

A White House official confirmed President Trump’s intention to keep the medal. In response, the Nobel Institute released a statement on Friday emphasizing the intangible nature of the prize.

"Regardless of what may happen to the medal, the diploma, or the prize money, it is and remains the original laureate who is recorded in history as the recipient of the prize," the committee stated.

While not naming Machado or Trump directly, the Institute outlined its policy of not commenting on a laureate's actions after the award is announced. It also confirmed there are no rules restricting what winners may do with their physical prizes.

"There are no restrictions in the statutes of the Nobel Foundation on what a laureate may do with the medal, the diploma, or the prize money. This means that a laureate is free to keep, give away, sell, or donate these items," the statement read.

However, it added a crucial distinction: "The prize itself – the honor and recognition – remains inseparably linked to the person or organization designated as the laureate by the Norwegian Nobel Committee."

President Trump, commenting on Friday, said of Machado, "I think she's a very fine woman, and we'll be talking again." His administration has thus far recognized former Venezuelan Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez, who assumed power initially following Maduro's removal.

The act of giving away a Nobel medal is rare but not without precedent in the prize's long history.

In a notorious 1943 example, Norwegian author and Literature laureate Knut Hamsun gifted his medal to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels as a gesture of support for Adolf Hitler.

In 2022, Russian Peace Prize co-winner Dmitry Muratov auctioned his medal for a record $103.5 million, with all proceeds directed to aid refugee children from Ukraine.

Most recently, in 2024, the widow of former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan donated his 2001 Peace Prize medal to the UN office in Geneva.