The Little Prince Literary Award for Persian fiction by writers under the age of 15, commemorating the title of Saint-Exupéry’s famous work, was created in Iran by the Cheragh-e Motale’eh Literary Foundation. In 2012, some 250 works by young authors were submitted for first stage review according to the society’s secretary Maryam Sistani, with the selection of the best three writers from 30 finalists being conducted in Tehran that September.
Several other Little Prince Awards have also been established in Europe, meant to promote achievement and excellence in a variety of fields such as in assistance to autistic children, child literacy, children’s literature (by adults), Puppetry theatre and theatre arts.
Numismatics and philatelic
Before France adopted the euro as its currency, Saint-Exupéry and drawings from The Little Prince were on the 50-franc banknote; the artwork was by Swiss designer Roger Pfund. Among the anti-counterfeiting measures on the banknote was micro-printed text from Le Petit Prince, visible with a strong magnifying glass.
Additionally, a 100-franc commemorative coin was also released in 2000, with Saint-Exupéry’s image on its obverse, and that of the Little Prince on its reverse.
In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the writer’s untimely death, Israel issued a stamp honoring “Saint-Ex” and The Little Prince in 1994. Philatelic tributes have been printed in at least 24 other countries as of 2011.
Astronomy
The B612 Foundation is a private foundation created to track Near-Earth objects that might pose a threat to Earth, and is dedicated to protecting the planet from asteroid strikes, similar to the Tunguska event of 1908. The private foundation was founded by a group of U.S. scientists and astronauts, including Clark Chapman, Piet Hut, Rusty Schweickart and Ed Lu in October 2002. The non-profit organization is named in honour of the prince’s home asteroid.
An asteroid discovered in 1975, 2578 Saint-Exupéry, was also named after the author of The Little Prince.
Another asteroid discovered in 1993 was named 46610 Bésixdouze, which is French for “B six twelve”. The asteroid’s number, 46610, becomes B612 in hexadecimal notation. B-612 was the name of the prince’s home asteroid.
In 2003 a small asteroid moon, Petit-Prince, discovered earlier in 1998, was named in part after The Little Prince.
Professional wrestling
French professional wrestler Daniel Dubail was billed as Le Petit Prince. Pakistani-British professional wrestler Mohammed Allam was billed as The Little Prince.
The Little Prince Day
Since 2020, June 29 is International Little Prince Day. This date was chosen to commemorate the birth of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, which occurred on June 29, 1900. The Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Foundation started the initiative striving to promote the humanist values carried by the book published in 1943. Mark Osborne was one of the first personalities to participate in the Little Prince Day 2020.
Merchandise and collaboration
In 2023, The Little Prince inspired a collaboration with Chinese toy brand Pop Mart and artist Hideaki Kawashima’s Hirono series. Titled “Pop Mart x Le Petit Prince – La Nouvelle Série de Figurines par Hirono”, the collection features reinterpretations of characters from the novella, including the Little Prince, the Rose, and the Fox. The figurines depict scenes such as the Little Prince standing atop his asteroid B612 and interacting with the Fox under a starry sky. The collaboration was marketed as a celebration of the story’s themes of love, friendship, and exploration.
The Montblanc Luxury Writing Instrument Company created three series of luxury fountain pens based on the Little Prince series, including the Le Petit Prince, the Le Petit Prince Aviator and the Le Petit Prince and Planet pens in various models.
