Speaking by video link to the award ceremony in Swedish Parliament, the former NSA systems analyst said Monday that the prize recognizes "the work of so many people."
Snowden remains exiled in Russia after leaking NSA documents to journalists in 2013. He split the honorary portion of the award with Alan Rusbridger, editor of the Guardian, which has published a series of articles on government surveillance based on documents leaked by Snowden.
The 1.5 million kronor (USD 210,000) cash portion of the award was shared by Pakistani human rights activist Asma Jahangir, Basil Fernando of the Asian Human Rights Commission and US environmentalist Bill McKibben.