The Premio Planeta de Novela is a Spanish
literary prize, awarded since 1952 by the Spanish publisher
Grupo Planeta to an original unpublished novel written in Spanish. It is one of about 16 literary prizes given by Planeta.
Since 1974 there has also been an award to the runner up, which now stands at €150,000.
Criticism
In recent years its credibility has been called into question, with the first prize often awarded to authors published by Planeta, and the second to less known authors. The award has been declined by
Miguel Delibes and
Ernesto Sábato, both Planeta authors.
In 2005, an Argentinian court fined Planeta 10,000
pesos after finding that there had been fraud in awarding the Argentinian version of the prize to
Ricardo Piglia in 1997.[2]
While the manuscripts are presented under a pseudonym, it is not unusual for the names of the winners to be leaked days or weeks before the official announcement.[citation needed]