Throughout history, societies have devised ways of honouring excellence, celebrating genius, and immortalising those whose contributions have reshaped the world. Among these recognitions, the Nobel Prize has stood for over a century as the pinnacle of achievement in peace, literature, science, and economics. Its aura has been burnished by the fame of laureates such as Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King Jr., Wangari Maathai, and Toni Morrison. To win a Nobel is to be forever etched in human history as someone whose work transcended borders and generations. Yet the question remains: is there a prize better than the Nobel? The answer is not as straightforward as one might expect. Better, in this context, can mean different things—more financially rewarding, more influential in a given field, or more relevant to contemporary society. By exploring these dimensions, it becomes clear that while the Nobel Prize remains unrivalled in global prestige, there are other awards that can, in certain contexts, surpass it.
The first obvious measure of a prize is money. The Nobel Prize currently awards winners around one million U.S. dollars, a life-changing sum for most people but modest compared to other modern awards. In the early 2000s, a group of tech billionaires including Sergey Brin, Mark Zuckerberg, and Yuri Milner founded the Breakthrough Prizes in mathematics, physics, and life sciences. These prizes award three million U.S. dollars to each laureate, almost triple the Nobel’s purse. They are designed to honour not only past achievements but also to raise the public profile of scientists in the same way actors and athletes are celebrated. With glittering ceremonies often likened to the Oscars, the Breakthrough Prizes highlight the growing belief that in a knowledge-driven era, science deserves red-carpet recognition. From a purely financial standpoint, therefore, the Nobel Prize has been eclipsed.
Beyond money, some awards are better than the Nobel in terms of disciplinary focus. A glaring absence in the Nobel categories is mathematics. This omission, often attributed to historical anecdotes surrounding Alfred Nobel himself, has left mathematicians without what would have been their highest global honour. To fill that gap, the Fields Medal, awarded every four years to mathematicians under forty, has acquired near-mythical status. It does not carry a huge cash prize, but within mathematics, it is seen as the equivalent of the Nobel. In addition, the Abel Prize, established by the Norwegian government in 2001, provides mathematicians with recognition at a scale similar to Nobel laureates. Thus, in the mathematics community, both the Fields Medal and Abel Prize are better aligned with disciplinary values than the Nobel could ever be.
In medicine, the Lasker Awards, sometimes referred to as “America’s Nobels,” carry immense prestige. Over the decades, a striking number of Lasker laureates have gone on to win Nobel Prizes, suggesting that the Lasker functions as both a predictor and an independent recognition of excellence. Similarly, in journalism, literature and the arts, the Pulitzer Prizes are unmatched in authority. While the Nobel Prize in Literature is global and deeply symbolic, the Pulitzer represents a gold standard of professional achievement in writing and reporting, with a cultural influence that is hard to overstate, especially in the United States. For a journalist or playwright, a Pulitzer may well be considered better than a Nobel because it speaks more directly to their peers and their craft.
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Prestige, however, cannot always be measured in terms of money or professional validation. Some prizes resonate more deeply with the moral or spiritual dimensions of human life. The Templeton Prize, founded in 1972, seeks to honour progress in understanding life’s spiritual dimension. It often awards sums even larger than the Nobel and has recognised figures such as Mother Teresa and the Dalai Lama. Unlike the Nobel, which confines itself to scientific or humanitarian achievements within defined disciplines, the Templeton Prize embraces a broader notion of human flourishing, weaving together science, philosophy and spirituality. In its own way, this makes it better for acknowledging contributions that the Nobel framework might overlook.
Another dimension is symbolic and political recognition. The Nobel Peace Prize is globally recognised, but in some contexts, honours such as the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom, France’s Légion d’honneur or Britain’s Order of Merit may carry more immediate symbolic weight. These awards are not only recognitions of individual brilliance but also tools of soft power, binding recipients to national narratives. To be knighted in the United Kingdom, for example, is not just about personal achievement but about entering a centuries-old system of honour that carries cultural and historical gravitas. For many, this symbolic connection to a nation’s story may feel better than the Nobel’s detached, international stamp.
Despite these rivalries, one cannot deny that the Nobel Prize retains a mystique that few other awards have achieved. It is not merely the money or the medal but the legacy attached to Alfred Nobel’s will, the global stage of the ceremonies in Stockholm and Oslo, and the fact that its laureates are woven into the narrative of humanity’s greatest achievements. When a person wins a Nobel, their name enters classrooms, encyclopaedias and the collective memory of the world. The Nobel has become a brand in itself, a shorthand for the highest form of recognition.
Ultimately, whether there is a prize better than the Nobel depends on one’s perspective. If one values financial reward, then the Breakthrough Prizes are clearly better. If one measures prestige within a specialised discipline, the Fields Medal, Abel Prize, Lasker or Pulitzer might be considered superior. If one treasures symbolic honour and national recognition, the presidential or royal orders of merit might take precedence. Yet, when viewed in the widest sense—as a marker of universal human excellence—the Nobel Prize still holds a unique place. It may not always be the largest or the most precise, but it is the most enduringly influential. In that sense, while some prizes surpass it in certain respects, none have completely replaced the Nobel’s stature as the world’s most iconic award.
By Ashford Kimani
Ashford teaches English and Literature in Gatundu North Sub-county and serves as Dean of Studies.
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