P. C. Hooft Award

The P.C. Hooft Award (in Dutch: P.C. Hooft-prijs) is a Dutch language literary lifetime achievement award named after 17th Century Dutch poet and playwright Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft. Established in 1948, initially as an award of the state, winners are selected from alternating categories: prose (fiction), essays (non-fiction) and poetry. Winners of the prize receive .
In 1984 the relationship between the State of the Netherlands and the independent Foundation that puts forward the winner came under pressure when the jury nominated columnist Hugo Brandt Corstius. The Minister of Culture at the time, Elco Brinkman, refused to award the prize to Corstius because of Corstius' perceived inappropriate comments against the government and the then Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers. As a result of the uproar, the prize was not awarded in 1984, 1985 and 1986. In 1987, with a re-established fully independent committee, the prize was as yet awarded to Corstius.