The 69-year-old poet, Hans Verhagen, has been awarded the prestigious P.C. Hooft Prize for Literature. He was given the prize for his oeuvre to date, and the jury cited the humour, commitment, poetic daring and willfulness it encapsulates.

Verhagen's first collection of poems, Rozen en Motoren (Roses and Engines), was published in 1963. Since then, he has also caused a stir as a journalist, television and film maker and painter. His latest poetry book, Moeder is een rover (Mother is a robber), came out last year.

The P.C. Hooft Prize for Literature is one of the most important Dutch-language awards. It is given annually to outstanding exponents in the fields of prose, essays and poetry rotating in a three-year cycle between the disciplines. The award was instigated in 1947 and is worth 60,000 to the winner.