Explained

Why some prizes are not awarded in a given year

Major prizes skip years for three main reasons. War or a pandemic can stop the process, the rules can allow a jury to find no worthy candidate, or the prize is designed only for rare cases that meet strict criteria.

• The Nobel Prizes were not awarded 49 times, mostly during the two World Wars. Under the statutes, if no work is judged important enough, the prize money is reserved until the following year.¹
• The COVID-19 pandemic stopped several awards in 2020. The Cannes festival was cancelled with no Palme d'Or, Reuters lists the 2020 Ballon d'Or as cancelled because of the pandemic, and the Ramon Magsaysay Award foundation lists no awardees for 2020.^2,7,3
• Some juries can decline to award. The Pulitzer Board is not bound by its fiction jury and has made no fiction award in several years, most recently 2012.⁴
• The Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership is only given when a former head of state or government meets strict criteria. The foundation says there is not necessarily a laureate every year and that there was no winner in 2024.⁵
• The Wolf Prize in Mathematics has also skipped years, including 2016, 2021 and 2025, according to Wikipedia's list of laureates.⁶

Sources

1. Nobel Prize Outreach, Nobel Prize facts (27 October 2026)
2. Wikipedia, Palme d'Or (27 October 2026)
3. Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation, Awardees (27 October 2026)
4. Wikipedia, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (27 October 2026)
5. Mo Ibrahim Foundation, Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership (27 October 2026)
6. Wikipedia, Wolf Prize in Mathematics (27 October 2026)
7. Reuters (via The Star), Factbox, Soccer, List of Ballon d'Or winners (26 October 2026)