The Balzan Prizes are chosen by the General Prize Committee in two general subject areas: Literature, Moral Sciences and the Arts; and the Physical, Mathematical and Natural Sciences and Medicine. The four Balzan Prizes, two per category, are awarded to scholars, artists and scientists who have distinguished themselves in their fields on an international level.
The General Prize Committee announced that the 2019 Balzan Prizes will be awarded in the following fields: Film Studies, Islamic Studies, Theory of Partial Differential Equations, and Pathophysiology of Respiration: From Basic Science to the Bedside.