Prize

• Romanian director Cristian Mungiu won the prestigious Palme d'Or at the 79th Cannes Film Festival for his drama "Fjord," which explores clashing cultures in Norway. • This victory marks the second time Mungiu has received the festival's top prize, highlighting his continued influence in international cinema. • The event also featured a video message from 84-year-old Barbra Streisand, who accepted an award while praising the power of film to unite people.

• Romanian director Cristian Mungiu won the prestigious Palme d'Or for his film "Fjord" at the 79th Cannes Film Festival on May 23, 2026. • The winning film is described as a thought-provoking drama centered on a Christian family living in Norway. • This victory marks the second time Mungiu has received the festival's top prize, cementing his status as a leading figure in international cinema.

• Yáng Shuāng-zǐ’s novel *Taiwan Travelogue*, translated by Lin King, has won the International Booker Prize, marking the first time a work originally written in Mandarin Chinese has received the honor. • The novel is described as a "double feat" for successfully blending elements of a romance with an incisive postcolonial critique. • Yáng highlighted the work's focus on the complex legacy of the Japanese empire, noting that Taiwanese perspectives on colonial history are often a conflicted mix of nostalgia and distaste.

Jack Clark describes ‘vertiginous sense of progress’ and ‘profound changes’ to society alongside risks of technologyAn AI system will work with humans to make a Nobel prize-winning discovery within 12 months and tradespeople will be helped by bipedal robots in two years, according to the co-founder of Anthropic.Jack Clark described a “vertiginous sense of progress” in the technology and made a series of predictions, including that companies run solely by AIs would be generating millions of dollars in revenue within 18 months, and that by the end of 2028, AI systems would be able to design their own successors. Continue reading...

Garden featuring giant woman carved out of tree makes designer one of few female artists to winFeaturing a giant, slumbering woman carved out of a fallen tree, Sarah Eberle’s hauntingly beautiful Chelsea Flower Show garden has won the top prize.Eberle, now the Royal Horticultural Society’s most decorated gardener, is a rarity; she’s one of only three women to have won Best in Show at Chelsea as solo designers in its 100-year history. Continue reading...

The £20,000 award for writers aged 39 or under goes to Joy Is My Middle Name, a collection about navigating race, addiction and womanhoodA debut poetry collection with themes including race, addiction and womanhood has won this year’s Swansea University Dylan Thomas prize.American poet Sasha Debevec-McKenney took home the £20,000 prize – awarded to writers aged 39 or under in honour of the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, who died at that age – for her debut collection Joy Is My Middle Name. She was announced as the winner at a ceremony in Swansea, Thomas’s birthplace. Continue reading...

All Her Lives is only the fifth short story collection to win the prestigious NZ$65,000 prize in 58 yearsFirst-time fiction writer Ingrid Horrocks has won New Zealand’s richest literary prize for her debut short story collection, All Her Lives.The Wellington-based poet, essayist and memoirist won the prestigious NZ$65,000 (A$53,000, £28,500) Jann Medlicott Acorn prize for fiction at the 2026 Ockham New Zealand book awards on Wednesday night. The book follows nine women across nine different life stages and generations, as they navigate politics, gender and motherhood. Continue reading...

Lai wins $60,000 literary award for her study of a young woman’s repression and rage as she struggles to juggle the needs of those around herSign up for a weekly email featuring our best readsAs the 2026 winner of the Stella prize, Lee Lai has established two new firsts: the first ever non-binary winner with her book Cannon, which is the first graphic novel to win the $60,000 Australian literary award for women and non-binary writers.Cannon follows the titular, queer Chinese woman living in Montreal on the “uncool side of [her] twenties”. Cannon’s real name is Lucy, which became Luce then (loose) Cannon – and much like her unwanted nickname, she shoulders responsibility without complaint. During the day she cares for her gung-gung (maternal grandfather), a former tyrant enfeebled by age, without any help from her emotionally avoidant mother; and by night she works in the kitchen of a fine-dining restaurant, corralling chaos into order. Cannon’s longtime best friend Trish uses her as a soundboard for all of her problems, and is secretly mining Cannon’s life as a troubling source of inspiration for her writing career. Continue reading...

• The first Nobel award ceremony since President Trump overhauled the board of trustees earlier this year is set to proceed with new appointees influencing selections. • Changes aim to align prizes with American priorities, sparking international debate on politicization. • Shift matters for U.S. soft power and could alter future laureate choices in peace and economics.

In a rare public appearance, Meta whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams warned of ‘networks of powerful elites’ using wealth and influence to silence dissenting voicesMeta whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams and the late Virginia Giuffre have jointly won the Freedom to Publish prize at this year’s British book awards, marking the first time the award has been shared.Wynn-Williams, a former Facebook executive, was recognised for Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed and Lost Idealism, her bestselling memoir about her years inside Meta, formerly Facebook. The book makes allegations about the company’s internal culture and practices, including its approach to political influence, China and the wellbeing of teenagers. Meta has disputed the claims. Continue reading...

• Jannik Sinner urged Grand Slam tournaments to show greater respect to players during an escalating prize money row. • Novak Djokovic backed player power in the standoff with tennis's four major events. • The dispute highlights growing tensions over equitable compensation at top-tier tournaments.

Australia’s most prominent portrait prize was announced on Friday at the Art Gallery of NSW, where the finalist exhibition will open on SaturdayArchibald prize 2026 finalists: Virginia Trioli, Jan Fran, Ahmed al-Ahmed and more – in picturesRichard Lewer has been awarded the 2026 Archibald prize for his portrait of Pitjantjatjara elder, traditional healer and senior artist Iluwanti Ken.The New Zealand-born, Melbourne-based artist was announced as the winner of the $100,000 prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales on Friday. The judging panel, comprised of the gallery’s trustees, selected the work unanimously from a field of 59 finalists whittled down from 1,034 entries. Continue reading...

Authorities investigate Florent Montaclair over award given to himself and others including Noam ChomskyAt a ceremony at the French national assembly attended by Nobel prize winners, former government ministers, MPs, decorated scientists and academics, all attention was on a previously unknown literature professor.Florent Montaclair, then 46, a balding, bespectacled figure in an ill-fitting suit and rosé-coloured shirt, was receiving the 2016 Gold Medal of Philology - the study of linguistics – from an international society of the same name. Continue reading...

The painting by self-taught artist Sean Layh was chosen by the Art Gallery of NSW staff who hang the finalists, ahead of the main announcement on 8 MayArchibald prize 2026 finalists: Virginia Trioli, Jan Fran, Ahmed al-Ahmed and more – in picturesA portrait of actor Jacob Collins by Sean Layh has won the favour of Art Gallery of NSW staff, who awarded it the Packing Room prize on Thursday, ahead of the Archibald prize’s main announcement on 8 May.Layh, a self-taught painter, said winning the prize for his work – an oil painting titled The tragicall historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke – was “one of the great honours of my professional life”. Continue reading...

• HHS launched the $4 Million KidneyX EMPOWER Prize Challenge on April 15, 2026, to advance living kidney donation and patient-centered health technologies. • The initiative aims to spur innovation in kidney care through science and programs improving American health outcomes. • This effort addresses critical needs in organ transplantation, potentially increasing donation rates and access to treatments.

• The Kennedy Center confirmed comedian Bill Maher as the 2026 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor recipient on March 26, 2026, days after White House denial labeled reports fake news. • Maher becomes the 27th honoree following Conan O'Brien and Kevin Hart; he quipped, 'It's like an Emmy, except I win,' in a Kennedy Center release. • White House communications director Steven Cheung called prior Atlantic reporting 'Literally FAKE NEWS,' and press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated Maher would not receive the award.

Comedian who called Trump ‘gracious and measured’ will win humor award the White House dubbed ‘FAKE NEWS’Bill Maher will win the prestigious Mark Twain prize for American humor, the Kennedy Center said Thursday, less than a week after the White House forcefully denied that the comedian, who has had a hot-and-cold relationship with Donald Trump, would win it.“For nearly three decades, the Mark Twain prize has celebrated some of the greatest minds in comedy,” Roma Daravi, the Kennedy Center’s vice-president of public relations, said in a statement. “For even longer, Bill has been influencing American discourse — one politically incorrect joke at a time.” Continue reading...

Glasses use verbal cues and floating text to assist wearers and are expected to be available in early 2027AI software that can be embedded into smart glasses has won a £1m prize for technology to help people with dementia.Built into chunky, black-rimmed frames that have a camera, microphone and speakers, the tech – known as CrossSense – guides wearers through everyday life by means of a chatty assistant called Wispy. Continue reading...