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Studio Ghibli Receives Spain's Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities

Spain's Princess of Asturias Foundation awarded Studio Ghibli (Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, The Boy and the Heron) with the 2026 Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities on Wednesday "for having exceptionally transformed creativity into knowledge and communication." The award honors works that foster and advance humanistic activities and social communication.

The foundation and award's jury praised the studio's "highly imaginative artisinal process" and "universal stories brimming with sensitivity and humanistic values: friendship, empathy and tolerance, as well as respect for people and nature." The foundation also said that Ghibli's films "transcend generations and border," serve as references for "globalized society and the protection of the environment," "celebrate the beauty of the everyday," and feature "moments of silence and contemplation." The foundation also recognized the studio's films and founders Isao Takahata, Toshio Suzuki, and Hayao Miyazaki, who directed many of Ghibli's works.

This year, there were 48 candidatures comprising 20 different nationalities for the Communication and Humanities Award.

The Princess of Asturias Awards overall honor "the scientific, technical, cultural, social and humanitarian work carried out at an international level by individuals, institutions or groups of individuals or institutions." Studio Ghibli's award is the second of eight awards for foundation's 46th year. There are also awards for Arts, Technical and Scientific Research, International Cooperation, Social Sciences, Sports, Literature, and Concord

There will be a ceremony for the Princess of Asturias Awards in October presided over by Their Majesties The King and Queen, accompanied by Their Royal Highnesses The Princess of Asturias and Infanta Sofía.

Other Japanese recipients of the foundation's awards include the 2023 Literature award for author Haruki Murakami and the 2012 Communication and Humanities award for Nintendo's game designer Shigeru Miyamoto (Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda).

The 77th Cannes International Film Festival awarded Studio Ghibli with the Honorary Palme d'Or in 2024. Time Magazine named Studio Ghibli director Miyazaki as one of the top 100 people in its list of the world's most influential people of 2024.

Miyazaki rose to prominence in the 1970s on such television anime series as Lupin III, Future Boy Conan, and Sherlock Hound. He directed his first feature film, Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro, in 1979. He then adapted the beginning of his Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind manga into an anime film in 1984, before he and fellow director Takahata founded Studio Ghibli. With Ghibli, Miyazaki helmed the feature films Laputa: Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo, and The Wind Rises. He also co-produced Takahata's directorial efforts and directed smaller projects such as the "experimental film" On Your Mark and Ghibli Museum Shorts such as Mei and the Kitten Bus and Mr. Dough and the Egg Princess.

Source: Princess of Asturias Foundation (link 2, link 3)