Awards Record

Literature (French language prose)

Prix Goncourt: winners and how it is awarded

The Prix Goncourt was created in 1903 by the bequest of Edmond de Goncourt that established the Académie Goncourt, and is awarded each year for a work of French prose. The prize money is a symbolic 10 euros.1,2

Awarded byAcadémie Goncourt
Established1903
FrequencyAnnual
Prize valueA symbolic €10 (as of 2025-11-04 (as reported by Euronews))

How the winner is chosen

The Académie Goncourt, a literary society of 10 members, selects the winner from successive shortlists. The 2025 prize was announced on 4 November 2025.

Winners

  1. 2025Laurent Mauvignier2La Maison vide
  2. 2024Kamel Daoud1,2Houris
  3. 2023Jean-Baptiste Andrea1Veiller sur elle
  4. 2022Brigitte Giraud1Vivre vite
  5. 2021Mohamed Mbougar Sarr1La plus secrète mémoire des hommes
  6. 2020Hervé Le Tellier1L'Anomalie
  7. 2019Jean-Paul Dubois1Tous les hommes n'habitent pas le monde de la même façon
  8. 2018Nicolas Mathieu1Leurs enfants après eux
  9. 2017Éric Vuillard1L'Ordre du jour
  10. 2016Leïla Slimani1Chanson douce
  11. 2015Mathias Énard1Boussole
  12. 2014Lydie Salvayre1Pas pleurer

Notable facts

Britannica describes the prize as carrying a now nominal monetary award, which Euronews gives as a symbolic 10 euros.1,2

Britannica lists Romain Gary as the 1956 winner for Les Racines du ciel and records the 1975 prize to Émile Ajar for La Vie devant soi as declined.1

Sources

  1. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Prix Goncourt (24 October 2026)
  2. Euronews, Prix Goncourt 2025: France's top literary prize awarded to Laurent Mauvignier for La Maison vide (4 November 2025)