These words involve the showing of favour either out of generosity or out of respect from achievement. Award and prize are now nearly identical in meaning, although prize is less formal in tone. Both refer to a tribute given for some outstanding accomplishment. Both may or may not imply the giving of sum of money.

• The Olympic winner received a gold medal as an award ; An award of two thousand dollars accompanied the prize for the best novel of the year.

Prize may also signify the objective or attainment of a struggle.

• The company took the hill after an all-night battle, but it was a costly prize ; Although he had not guessed it when he proposed, his wife turned out to be quite a prize .

Honour is more general than the foregoing. Whereas award and prize may suggest an official ceremony of recognition, honour may share this implication or depart from it to indicate simply private, unofficial respect.

• The visiting head of state was given the honour of a twenty-one gun salute; it is an honour to hear you speak so highly of me.

Premium is most specific in meaning, referring to an additional value beyond an agreed-on sum, the premium being given when a further condition has been met: The gave him a premium for selling the most insurance that month. More generally, the word may simply mean a high valuation, like honour : I put a high premium on the truth.

Bounty may mean generosity in general, or the gift given as a favour, a rather formal use: The land’s bounty passed all expectation. Bounty is also used specifically to mean a sum of money given by a government for killing a predatory animal: the bounty offered for killing a dingo or, in New Zealand, a wild pig.