Planeta Prize 2026: schedules and everything you need to know about the winner announcement

This year the Planeta novel award is presented on October 15th in Barcelona, at the Oval Hall of the National Art Museum of Catalonia. The ceremony celebrates its 75th edition in the context of what is already the literary gala with the most media coverage in the country. The winning novel receives one million euros, and the runner-up 200,000 euros.

The literary contest is open to the general public: to participate, one only needs to be of legal age and submit an original, unpublished manuscript in the Spanish language. Works that meet the requirements are admitted to the contest and are read and evaluated. Among these works, the jury selects the 10 best, from which the runner-up and the winner are chosen.

According to Planeta de Libros, the current edition has broken the participation record: 1,424 novels have been submitted, and the 10 finalist manuscripts will soon be announced. Of the total originals received, 778 come from the Spanish state, 383 from South American countries, 151 from North America, and 28 from European countries such as Portugal, Germany, France, and Switzerland. Planeta has also announced which jury will be in charge of choosing the winning novel. It will be composed of Luz Gabás, Pere Gimferrer, Eva Giner, Carmen Posadas, Paloma Sánchez-Garnica, Javier Sierra, and Belén López, director of the Planeta publishing house and secretary with a vote.

Last year the winner was Juan del Val with the novel Vera, una historia de amor, and the runner-up was Ángela Banzas for Cuando el viento hable. Del Val, a novelist from Madrid, screenwriter, and collaborator on the television program El hormiguero entered under a woman's pseudonym, Elvira Torres. It was not the first time: the 2021 Planeta award was won by Carmen Mola, a crime novelist who was discovered to actually be a pseudonym behind which three men were hiding: Jorge Díaz, Agustín Martínez, and Antonio Mercero.