How does the nomination process work?
Nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize come in from all over the world and are submitted to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which is responsible for selecting the laureates. Anyone who meets the nominator criteria can put forward a candidate and explain why they believe that person or organisation deserves the prize. This makes the peace prize unique compared to many other awards, where the committee itself decides both the nominees and the winners.
The selection process takes about eight months. The five-member Nobel Committee goes meticulously through all nominations, and select those which it want to consider more carefully. The selected candidates are then assessed by independent experts, who prepare detailed reports that are circulated to the committee ahead of its meetings. This is an iterative process, where the list gradually is shortened, and new assessments are solicited in each round. The committee may, at any stage, reach back and reconsider candidates not shortlisted, as long as they have a valid nomination. By summer, the shortlist is normally cut down to a handful of candidates. The decision is taken sometime between mid-August and late September.
Who can nominate?
A wide range of people can nominate candidates. No invitation is needed to nominate. Eligible nominators include: university rectors and chancellors; professors of political science, social sciences, history, philosophy, law, and theology; leaders of peace research institutes and institutes of international affairs; members of national assemblies, governments, and international courts of law; past Nobel Peace Prize laureates; board members of organisations that have received the peace prize; current and former members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee; and former advisers to the Nobel Institute.
Altogether, tens of thousands of people worldwide have the right to put a name forward.
What is the benefit of allowing so many nominators?
The Nobel Peace Prize is international and the broad eligibility of nominators ensures that a great variety of candidates from all corners of the world is brought forward to the committee’s attention every year.
Is there a list of all of the nominees for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize?
Contrary to common belief, there is no public list of the current year’s nominees. The complete list of eligible nominees of any year’s prizes is not disclosed for another 50 years – a restriction as governed by the statutes of the Nobel Foundation.
What does it mean to be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize?
Being nominated does not mean endorsement. Any eligible nominator may submit a name, and the Committee may also nominate, but only in their first meeting, which is normally in the latter half of February. A nomination is not an honor in itself. Neither does it imply any kind of association with the Nobel institutions.
Do you share any information about who is nominated for the peace prize this year?
Contrary to popular belief, there is no public list of nominees. The Nobel Committee does not disclose the names of nominees – neither to the media nor to the candidates themselves. Occasionally, names appear in the press. Such reports are either pure speculation or information released by the nominators.
The names of both nominators and nominees must remain confidential for 50 years, and can only be revealed at the beginning of the year marking the 50th anniversary of the prize in question.
Can you officially confirm if a nomination for this year’s prize is for real or not?
As a matter of principle, and according to the statutes of the Nobel Foundation, the Norwegian Nobel Institute can never confirm, or disconfirm, whether someone has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize until the full list of nominations is made public after 50 years.
Is it possible to revoke a peace prize?
By our regulations it is not possible to revoke the Nobel Peace Prize. The peace prize is given to persons or organisations for their contributions in the time before receiving the prize. We cannot be responsible for what a Nobel Prize laureate does subsequent to having received the prize. It’s of course always possible that the prize committee can make a mistake and that is a responsibility that we just have to own up to, but we never revoke a prize.
What does the nomination process look like from start to finish?
It’s usually an eight-month screening and decision-making process which involves not only the five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee and its Secretary but a group of Norwegian and international advisers as well. The advisers, who are selected on the basis of their professional experience and academic expertise, prepare individual reports on the candidates that the committee has put on its short list. The initial reports are usually ready by the end of April.
The committee members then study the reports together with other relevant information and start their deliberations. More often than not they will ask for further reports on various candidates. As they continue their deliberations throughout the summer and receive additional reports from the advisers, they narrow the field of candidates down to a very small group.
Eventually, by the beginning of October at the latest, the committee makes its decision through a simple majority vote. The decision is final and without appeal. The name(s) of that year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate(s) is then announced. The cycle is completed on 10 December, when the annual Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony takes place in the Oslo City Hall. At the ceremony, the laureate(s) delivers the Nobel Prize lecture and receives the Nobel Prize medal and diploma as well as a document confirming the prize amount.
Read more about how the Nobel Prize laureates are nominated:
Nomination of the physics laureates
Nomination of the chemistry laureates
Nomination of the medicine laureates
Nomination of the literature laureates
Nomination of the peace prize laureates
Nomination of the laureates in economic sciences