The Swedish Academy announced on 9 November 1911 that the Nobel Prize for literature was being awarded to the Ghent writer Maurice Maeterlinck. This was the first and only time (so far) that a Belgian had received this major literary honour. Curiously enough, the Belgian government and the relevant literary circles would have preferred another outcome. They recommended the nomination of a candidate and they would have preferred to see the Prize go to Emile Verhaeren, who was well acquainted with King Albert I and Queen Elisabeth. The second option was for Maeterlinck and Verhaeren to share the Prize. The Swedish Academy decided otherwise. The official justification for the decision was the quality of Maeterlinck's entire work but it was primarily the charm and great success of L’Oiseau Bleu that swung the balance in his favour.
The Prize was awarded in Stockholm, on 10 December 1911. Maeterlinck did not attend the ceremony owing to his intense shyness. Belgium's ambassador to the court of Sweden, Charles Wauters, accepted the award on the writer's behalf