Premio Nadal

Spain · Since 1945 · For books in Spanish

Awarded each 6 January in Barcelona by Ediciones Destino to an unpublished novel in Spanish, which Destino then publishes. Until 2009 the jury also named a finalist, the runner-up.

Ignacio Agustí proposed the prize in 1944, together with Josep Vergés and Joan Teixidor of Ediciones Destino. It is named after Eugenio Nadal, an editor at Destino who died that year aged 27. The first award, on 6 January 1945 at the Café Suizo in Barcelona, went to Carmen Laforet's Nada, chosen from 26 entries. Since 1958 the evening has been held at the Hotel Ritz, now the Hotel Palace, where the Josep Pla Prize for prose in Catalan is announced too. Entries are unpublished manuscripts. A jury of five picks a few finalists shortly before the ceremony (five in 2025) and the winner on the night. The prize is worth 30,000 euros; 1,207 manuscripts competed in 2026. Early winners include Miguel Delibes, Carmen Martín Gaite and Ana María Matute. In 1994 the finalist, José Ángel Mañas's Historias del Kronen, sold more copies than the winner, Rosa Regàs's Azul.

Winners in English

3 of 27

Years on this site

2000–2026