The Alfonso Reyes International Prize is a Mexican award given for meritorious lifetime contributions to literary research and criticism. It was founded in 1972 by the economist turned author/critic, Francisco Zendejas and was named in honor of Alfonso Reyes, a well-known Mexican literary critic, author and poet.Since its creation, the prize has been awarded by the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes (INBA), in cooperation with the Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (Conaculta), the Sociedad Alfonsina Internacional, the government of Nuevo León, the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, the Universidad Regiomontana and the Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey. The first award was presented in 1973. No awards were given from 1996-1999. Source: Wikipedia (en)