The Cikada Prize was founded in 2004 following the 100th anniversary celebration in commemoration of the birth of the Swedish Nobel Prize winner, Harry Martinson. The award consists of a diploma, 20.000 SEK and a piece of ceramic art designed by the Swedish ceramics artist Gunilla Sundström. The award was initially presented in cooperation with the at the Stockholm School of Economics, the spa hotel Yasuragi, , Östasieninstitutet and Nyteboden. From 2013 it is mainly financed by the Swedish Institute. The name of the prize has been inspired by Martinson's poetry collection "Cikada", which was published in 1953. In this collection is also included the first 29 poems of his famous work Aniara, "The Song about Doris and Mima". The atomic bombs in Japan, followed by the construction of the world's first H-bomb in 1953, had a big impact on Martinson's writing, which is reflected in Aniara. The prize focuses on East Asian poets, writing in Chinese, Korean, or Japanese, not only because of Harry Martinson's great interest in East Asian literature, but also because the initiators of the prize believe poetry written in these languages deserves better recognition.
The winner of the 2nd Cikada Prize was the Japanese haiku poet Tōta Kaneko. The prize was given to Tōta Kaneko at the Swedish Embassy in Tokyo 13 December 2005, by the Princess Desirée of Sweden.
The 3rd Cikada Prize went to the Korean poet Ko Un at the Swedish Embassy in Seoul, South Korea on 28 November 2006.
The 4th Cikada Prize was given to the Korean poet in 2007, again presented at the Swedish Ambassador's residence in Seoul.
The 5th Cikada Prize went to the Korean poet Moon Chung-hee, who also received the prize at the Swedish Ambassador's residence in Seoul, on 6 November 2010.
The 6th Cikada Prize went to the Japanese poet Noriko Mizuta. The prize ceremony was held at the Swedish Ambassador's residence in Tokyo on 9 December 2013.
The 8th Cikada Prize went to the Vietnamese poet Hoang Thi Ý Nhi. The prize ceremony was held at the Swedish Ambassador's residence in Hanoi on 30 November 2015.
The 9th Cikada Prize went to the Taiwanese poet Yang Mu.
The 10th Cikada Prize went to the Vietnamese poet Mai Văn Phấn.
