Holberg International Memorial Prize

The Holberg International Memorial Prize, commonly known as the Holberg Prize, was established in 2003 by the government of Norway with the objective of increasing awareness of the value of academic scholarship within the arts, humanities, social sciences, law and theology, either within one of these fields or through interdisciplinary work. The prize was established in honour of Ludvig Holberg and complements the Abel Prize in mathematics established in 2002. It has been described as the "Nobel prize" for the arts and humanities, social sciences, law and theology.

The Holberg prize draws on the 200 million Norwegian kroner Ludvig Holberg Memorial Fund, established on 1 July 2003 by the Norwegian Government. Responsibility for administering the Holberg Prize was given by the Government of Norway to the University of Bergen. In turn the University of Bergen has established a Board of the Ludvig Holberg Memorial Fund and appointed an academic committee composed of prominent researchers from relevant academic fields and different universities. The Board of the Ludvig Holberg Memorial Fund awards the annual prize on the basis of the recommendation of the academic committee's evaluation of confidential nominations submitted by scholars holding positions at universities and other research institutions within the academic fields covered by the prize.

The Holberg Prize is named after the Dano-Norwegian writer Ludvig Holberg who excelled in all of the sciences covered by the award. The prize includes a cash award of 4.5 million Norwegian kroner (EUR 570,000 or USD 800,000), that is meant to be used to fund future research.