Machado was honoured "for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy," said Jorgen Watne Frydnes, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo.

Machado has been a "key, unifying figure in a political oppostion that was once deeply divided ... in a brutal authoritarian state that is now suffering a humanitarian and economic crisis," he said.

The committee hailed her as "one of the most extraordinary examples of civilian courage in Latin America in recent times", noting that she has been forced to live in hiding in the past year.

"Despite serious threats against her life, she has remained in the country, a choice that has inspired millions."

US President Donald Trump had made no secret of his desire to win this year's prize.

Since returning to the White House for his second term in January, the US leader has repeatedly insisted that he "deserves" the Nobel for his role in resolving numerous conflicts -- a claim observers say is broadly exaggerated.

But Nobel Prize experts in Oslo had insisted in the run-up to Friday's announcement that he had no chance, noting that his "America First" policies run counter to the ideals of the Peace Prize as laid out in Alfred Nobel's 1895 will creating the award.

Last year, the prestigious prize went to the Japanese anti-nuclear group Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots movement of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The prize comes with a gold medal, a diploma and a prize sum of $1.2 million.

The award will be presented at a formal ceremony in Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of the 1896 death of the prizes' creator, Swedish inventor and philanthropist Alfred Nobel.

The Peace Prize is the only Nobel awarded in Oslo, with the other disciplines announced in Stockholm.

On Thursday, the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Laszlo Krasznahorkai, considered by many as Hungary's most important living author, whose works explore themes of postmodern dystopia and melancholy.

The 2025 Nobel season winds up Monday with the economics prize.