International Awards

International Awards – Complete GK for Railway Exams

1. Nobel Prize

  • Instituted: 1901 (First awarded)
  • Founder: Alfred Nobel (Swedish inventor, 1833-96)
  • Purse 2023: SEK 11 million (≈ ₹87 lakh) per category
  • Categories: 6 – Peace, Literature, Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Economics (added 1969)
  • Youngest laureate: Malala Yousafzai (Peace, 2014, age 17)
  • Oldest laureate: John B. Goodenough (Chemistry, 2019, age 97)
  • Indian Citizens: 5 – Rabindranath Tagore (1913), C. V. Raman (1930), Mother Teresa (1979), Amartya Sen (1998), Kailash Satyarthi (2014)

2. Oscars (Academy Awards)

  • First ceremony: 16 May 1929, Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel
  • Most Awards: Walt Disney (22 Oscars)
  • Best International Feature: Introduced 1957 (earlier “Best Foreign Language Film”)
  • First Indian nomination: Mehboob Khan’s Mother India (1958)
  • First Indian to win: Bhanu Athaiya (Costume Design, Gandhi, 1983)
  • Recent Indian win: RRR – “Naatu Naatu” (Best Original Song, 2023)

3. Bharat Ratna vs. Global Equivalents

India Award Global Peer Notes
Bharat Ratna Order of the Rising Sun (Japan) Civilian honour for national service
Padma Vibhushan Légion d’honneur (France) Second-highest civilian award
Param Vir Chakra Medal of Honor (USA) Highest wartime gallantry

4. Major International Honours – Quick Table

Award Given by Field Since 2023 Winner (where announced)
Nobel Peace Prize Norwegian Nobel Committee Peace 1901 Narges Mohammadi (Iran)
Pritzker Architecture Prize Hyatt Foundation Architecture 1979 David Chipperfield (UK)
Abel Prize Norway Mathematics 2003 Luis Caffarelli (USA-Argentina)
Turing Award ACM Computing 1966 Avi Wigderson (USA-Israel)
Booker Prize Booker Foundation Fiction (English) 1969 Paul Lynch – Prophet Song (Ireland)
Pulitzer Columbia University Journalism & Arts 1917 Washington Post (Public Service)
Ramon Magsaysay Philippines Community service 1958 Korvi Rakshand (Bangladesh)
Right Livelihood Sweden Social justice 1980 Aminata Touré (Germany)
Olympic Order IOC Sports 1975 Thomas Bach (re-awarded)

5. United Nations & Associated Awards

  • UNESCO Peace Prize: Félix Houphouët-Boigny Prize (since 1991) – 2022 winner: Angela Merkel
  • UN Human Rights Award: Every 5 years – 2023: Front Line Defenders (Ireland)
  • UN Champions of the Earth: UN Environment – 2023: Sir David Attenborough

6. Sports Laureus World Sports Awards

  • Founded: 2000 by Richemont & Daimler
  • 2023 Sportsman: Lionel Messi
  • 2023 Sportswoman: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
  • Indian winners: Sachin Tendulkar (2010), Viswanathan Anand (2012), Milkha Singh (2002 – Spirit)

One-Liner Revision Bullets

  • Green Nobel – Goldman Environmental Prize (started 1990).
  • Nobel in Economics 2023 – Claudia Goldin (USA) – gender wage gap.
  • First Asian Nobel laureate – Rabindranath Tagore (Literature, 1913).
  • Oscar statuette weighs 3.86 kg, 24-carat gold-plated bronze.
  • Booker of Bookers – Salman Rushdie (Midnight’s Children, 1993 & 2008).
  • Dadasaheb Phalke – first Indian Oscar winner for Gandhi (shared).
  • UNICEF’s Audrey Hepburn Humanitarian Award – Priyanka Chopra (2016).
  • Olympic Laurel – introduced 2016; 2021 winner: Munich 1972 memorial project.

15+ Railway-Style MCQs

1. Who was the first Indian to win a Nobel Prize? **Answer**: C. V. Raman (Physics, 1930 – scattering of light)
2. The Nobel Prize in Economics was added in which year? **Answer**: 1969
3. Which Indian film first won the Oscar for Best Original Song? **Answer**: RRR – “Naatu Naatu” (2023)
4. The Pritzker Prize is associated with which field? **Answer**: Architecture
5. The Ramon Magsaysay Award is given by which country? **Answer**: Philippines
6. Who won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize? **Answer**: Narges Mohammadi (Iran)
7. The Booker Prize is awarded for works written in which language? **Answer**: English
8. The Turing Award is often referred to as the __ of Computing. **Answer**: Nobel Prize
9. Which Indian won the Olympic Order in 2019? **Answer**: Narinder Batra (IOA President)
10. The Abel Prize is given in which subject? **Answer**: Mathematics
11. Who is the youngest ever Nobel laureate? **Answer**: Malala Yousafzai (17 years)
12. The Pulitzer Prize was established by which newspaper magnate? **Answer**: Joseph Pulitzer
13. Which Indian actress received the UNICEF Audrey Hepburn Humanitarian Award? **Answer**: Priyanka Chopra
14. The “Green Nobel” refers to which award? **Answer**: Goldman Environmental Prize
15. Who among the following has NOT won the Bharat Ratna but received the Nobel Prize? **Answer**: Kailash Satyarthi
16. The Academy Awards were first held in which year? **Answer**: 1929
17. Which country gives the Right Livelihood Award? **Answer**: Sweden