The Nobel Institute reminds that the prize is awarded based on the laureate's contributions at the time the committee makes its decision. Subsequent decisions, statements, and actions by the winner are "at their own responsibility," the text states. The statutes of the Nobel Foundation, responsible for the prizes in its six categories, say nothing about what the laureate may do with the medal, diploma, or money, so they are "free to keep, sell, or donate them." The Institute recalls that in Nobel history, there are at least a dozen cases of donations or sales of medals and diplomas by the respective winners. Machado defended the gesture yesterday as a message of "gratitude" from the Venezuelan people for his actions to achieve "their freedom." The Venezuelan opposition leader used a frame with golden details to place the Nobel medal she gave to the president, and at the top wrote: "In gratitude for his extraordinary leadership in promoting peace" and added that it is a gift from the Venezuelan people for their actions to guide "their freedom," according to photos of the delivery at the White House. "The medal and diploma are the physical symbols that confirm that an individual or an organization has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The prize itself, the honor and the recognition, remain inseparably linked to the person or organization designated as laureates by the Norwegian Nobel Committee," the Institute stated in a press release. Regardless of what happens to the medal, the diploma, or the corresponding monetary endowment, "it remains the original laureate who goes down in history as the recipient of the prize," this institution reminds. The Nobel Institute highlights that a laureate cannot share the prize with others or transfer it once it has been announced, and the award also cannot be revoked: "the decision is final and forever." "The Norwegian Nobel Committee does not consider its role to take a position on the laureates' comments on the Peace Prize or the political processes in which they are involved." The Norwegian Nobel Institute reiterated on Friday that the prize is inseparable from the winner and non-transferable, after the Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado yesterday handed the Peace Prize medal, with which she was distinguished last month in Oslo, to the President of the United States, Donald Trump.
