P. C. Hooft Award

Hooft-prijs), inaugurated in 1948, 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.

[2] 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.

In 1987, with a re-established fully independent committee,[3] the prize was as yet awarded to Corstius.