[1] The Encyclopædia Britannica calls it "most prestigious and remunerative award given for Spanish-language literature".

[1] The winner receives a monetary award of 125,000 euros, which makes it one of the richest literary prizes in the world.

[2] The prize rewards authors from any Spanish-speaking nation and recognizes the recipient's overall body of work.

The award is named after Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote.

[3] As of the presentation of the 2024 award to Álvaro Pombo, the recipients have been recognized for their writing of novels, poetry, short stories, essays, translations, philosophy or dramas – or for combinations thereof.