Each year, The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities awards a number of medals, prizes and grants to deserving scholars. In this way distinguished research achievements are given recognition. The award can also be looked upon as a way of promoting research in the field of the humanities and working for preservation of the cultural heritage.
The Academy is concerned to support the whole chain of research from the doctoral candidate level and upwards and there is a system of fellowships, scholarships, prizes and other stipends based on the revenue from the Academy’s own funds.
At the moment the Academy awards three major prizes:
1. The Rettig prize to an outstanding or promising scholar within the Academy’s fields of interest. The prize was founded by the late Dr. Herbert Rettig, the donor of the Rettig Villa on Villagatan in Stockholm. He and his wife Ing-Marie were also the donors of the Rettig Cultural Foundation, which provides funding for the prize.
2. Ann-Kersti and Carl-Hakon Swenson’s prize for research in the humanities and social sciences, awarded to a currently active Swedish scholar as a reward for outstanding achievements.
3. The Gad Rausing prize, awarded to a Nordic scholar for an outstanding and lasting achievement in the fields of the humanities in a narrower sense.
There are a number of minor prizes as well. One of them is the teacher’s prize, whose aim is to emphasize the important role of teachers in society. Two separate prizes of this kind are awarded annually for meritorious pedagogic contributions in the upper secondary school in either modern European languages or the humanities and social sciences.
Another prize is awarded to four young scholars recently awarded their Ph.D. degree. Each class of the Academy suggests two winners of the prize.
Prize-winners
> 2005
> 2006
> 2007
> 2008
