Frequently Asked Questions

Nominations

How can I nominate myself or someone for a Nobel Prize?

No person can nominate herself/himself. Qualifications to nominate candidates vary somewhat among the Nobel Prize-Awarding Institutions. To find out who has the right to submit proposals for an award see links below.

Where can I find information on the nomination procedures?

Nomination and Selection of Physics Laureates
Nomination and Selection of Chemistry Laureates
Nomination and Selection of Medicine Laureates
Nomination and Selection of Literature Laureates
Nomination and Selection of Peace Prize Laureates
Nomination and Selection of Economic Sciences Laureates

 

Has X been nominated as a candidate for the Nobel Prize, or where do I find a list of Nobel Prize nominees?

According to the Statutes of the Nobel Foundation, information about the nominations is not to be disclosed, publicly or privately, for a period of fifty years. The restriction not only concerns the nominees and nominators, but also investigations and opinions in the awarding of a prize. Nomination information older than fifty years is public. At this web site the Nomination Databases for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1901-1951 and for the Nobel Peace Prize, 1901-1956 are now available. Nomination Databases for the other prize categories will follow.

Is it possible to nominate someone for a posthumous Nobel Prize?

No, it is not. Previously, a person could be awarded a prize posthumously if he/she had already been nominated (before February 1 of the same year), which was true of Erik Axel Karlfeldt (Nobel Prize in Literature 1931) and Dag Hammarskjöld (Nobel Peace Prize, 1961). Effective from 1974, the prize may only go to a deceased person to whom it was already awarded (usually in October) but who had died before he/she could receive the Prize on December 10 (William Vickrey, 1996 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel). See also par. 4 of the Statutes of the Nobel Foundation.