The P.C. Hooft Award (in Dutch: P.C. Hooft-prijs) is a Dutch language literary oeuvre award, given annually. The award is alternately given for prose (fiction), essays (non-fiction) and poetry.[1]
The award was established in 1947 as a Dutch state award. It is named for the Dutch poet and playwright Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft. It is generally considered the chief literary accolade in the Dutch language area.
The relationship between the State of the Netherlands and the independent Foundation that puts forward the winner came under pressure in 1984, when the columnist Hugo Brandt Corstius was nominated for the prize by the jury. The Minister of Culture at the time, Elco Brinkman, refused to award the prize to Brandt Corstius, because of some inappropriate comments about the government and Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers. As a result of this uproar the prize was not awarded the next two years. In 1987 the prize was awarded to Brandt Corstius again.