Understanding peace
Nobel Peace Prize: award, nomination and history
Who awards the prize, who may put forward candidates, how the choice is made and when the decision falls, explained from the information of the Nobel Foundation
Key points at a glance
- The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo, five members appointed by parliament, under Alfred Nobel’s will of 1895.
- Only certain groups may nominate, such as members of parliament and government, professors and former laureates. The deadline is 31 January.
- For 2026 the Nobel Institute registered 287 candidates. Who was nominated, and by whom, stays secret for 50 years.
- The 2026 prize is announced on Friday 9 October at 11:00 and presented on 10 December at Oslo City Hall.
- Since 1901 it has been awarded 106 times, to 112 people and 31 organisations. In 19 years it was not awarded.
In numbers
1901
first award
to Henry Dunant and Frédéric Passy
143
laureates
112 people and 31 organisations
19
years without a prize
including both world wars
Nominations by 31 January
Qualified nominators such as members of parliament, government ministers, professors or former laureates submit their nominations by midnight.
Short list
The committee reviews all valid nominations, may add names of its own at its first meeting and picks usually twenty to thirty candidates.
Assessments
The permanent advisers of the Norwegian Nobel Institute assess the short-listed candidates. They usually have a few months for this.
Decision
The committee discusses the strongest names and decides at one of its last meetings, unanimously if possible, otherwise by majority.
Announcement in October
The committee announces its choice in Oslo in early October, in 2026 on Friday 9 October at 11:00.
Ceremony on 10 December
On the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death the laureates receive medal, diploma and prize money at Oslo City Hall.
- Organisations31
- People112
- 2016, the record376
- 2024286
- 2025338
- 2026287
- Founded by
- Alfred Nobel, will of 27 November 1895
- Awarded by
- Norwegian Nobel Committee, five members appointed by the Storting
- Announcement
- early October in Oslo, on 9 October in 2026
- Award ceremony
- on 10 December at Oslo City Hall
- Author
- Johannes Max Harms
What is the Nobel Peace Prize?
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five prizes Alfred Nobel founded in his will of 27 November 1895, alongside physics, chemistry, medicine and literature. He left the largest share of his fortune for awards to those who have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind. The prize has been awarded since 1901.
For the peace prize the will names three yardsticks. It is to go to the person who has done the most or the best work for fellowship among nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses. Over the decades these fields have widened: humanitarian aid, human rights work and disarmament have been honoured as well.
Unlike the other Nobel Prizes, the peace prize can also go to organisations. According to the Nobel Foundation, 112 people and 31 organisations have received it so far. The International Committee of the Red Cross has been honoured three times, in 1917, 1944 and 1963, and the UN refugee agency twice, in 1954 and 1981.
Who awards the prize, and why in Norway?
The peace prize is decided by the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo. It has five members appointed by the Norwegian parliament, the Storting. That is how Alfred Nobel set it out in his will: physics and chemistry are awarded by the Swedish Academy of Sciences, medicine by the Karolinska Institute, literature by the Academy in Stockholm and peace by a committee of five persons selected by the Storting.
Nobel never explained why he gave the peace prize to Norway. In his time Sweden and Norway were joined in a union that only ended in 1905. The committee has decided on this one prize since the first award, while the others are awarded in Stockholm.
In the early years the Storting announced the decision itself. From 1901 to 1904, according to the Nobel Foundation, it was announced at a meeting of parliament on 10 December, after which the laureates were informed in writing. Today the committee announces its decision in October in Oslo.
Who may put forward candidates?
Only members of a defined group may nominate. Under the rules of the Nobel Foundation they include members of national assemblies and governments of sovereign states as well as current heads of state, members of the International Court of Justice and the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, of the Institut de Droit International and of the international board of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.
They are joined by professors of history, social sciences, law, philosophy, theology and religion, university rectors, directors of peace research and foreign policy institutes, former laureates, board members of laureate organisations and current and former members and advisers of the committee. An application on one’s own behalf is not considered.
A nomination has to arrive by midnight on 31 January. Committee members may add names of their own at the first meeting after the deadline. Who was nominated and by whom stays secret for 50 years under the statutes of the Nobel Foundation.
How does the committee choose?
After the deadline the committee reviews all valid nominations and draws up a short list. According to the committee it usually holds twenty to thirty names. These candidates are assessed by the permanent advisers of the Norwegian Nobel Institute: besides the director and the research director, usually a small group of Norwegian professors with expertise in fields that bear on the prize.
The advisers usually have a couple of months for their reports. Once they are in, the committee discusses the most likely candidates at length. The decision is made only at one of the last meetings before the announcement, by consensus where possible and otherwise by majority.
Because the files stay closed for 50 years, reports about nominees before the announcement are not information from the committee. Someone who says in public that they nominated a person only documents their own nomination, not its weight in the process. A nomination is neither an award nor a preliminary decision.
When is it announced, and when awarded?
The decision is announced in early October in Oslo. In 2026, according to the calendar of the Nobel Foundation, the committee announces the prize on Friday 9 October at 11:00 CEST. The other Nobel Prizes are announced in Stockholm in the days before and after.
The prize is awarded on 10 December, the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, who died in 1896. From 1905 to 1946 the ceremony was held in the building of the Nobel Institute, from 1947 to 1989 in the auditorium of the University of Oslo and since 1990 at Oslo City Hall. The other prizes are presented in Stockholm on the same day.
The prize consists of a medal, a diploma and prize money. For 2026 the Nobel Foundation has set 12 million Swedish kronor per full prize. If two or three laureates share a prize, the money is shared.
Which Germans have received the prize?
The first German was Gustav Stresemann. The foreign minister received the prize in 1926 together with the French foreign minister Aristide Briand; the committee honoured their crucial role in bringing about the Locarno Treaty. A year later, in 1927, the prize went to the historian and pacifist Ludwig Quidde, together with the Frenchman Ferdinand Buisson, for their contribution to a public opinion in France and Germany that favours peaceful international cooperation.
The journalist Carl von Ossietzky received the prize for 1935; it was presented a year later, in 1936. The committee honoured him for his burning love for freedom of thought and expression and his valuable contribution to the cause of peace. Albert Schweitzer, born in 1875 in Kaysersberg in Alsace, then part of Germany, received the prize for 1952.
Willy Brandt was honoured in 1971 as Federal Chancellor. The committee gave as its reason that he had paved the way for a meaningful dialogue between East and West.
In which years was no prize awarded?
Nineteen times the committee awarded no Nobel Peace Prize: 1914 to 1916, 1918, 1923, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1939 to 1943, 1948, 1955 and 1956, 1966 and 1967, and 1972. Nine of these years fall in the two world wars, when, according to the Nobel Foundation, fewer Nobel Prizes were awarded overall.
The basis is in the statutes of the Nobel Foundation. If none of the nominations considered meets the yardstick of the will, the prize money is reserved until the following year. If the prize cannot be awarded then either, the amount goes to the foundation’s restricted funds. A year without a prize is therefore not a mishap but a decision the rules provide for.
The best-known case is 1948. Mahatma Gandhi had been nominated in 1937, 1938, 1939, 1947 and finally shortly before he was assassinated in January 1948. Because the prize could not be awarded posthumously, the committee made no award that year and stated that there was no suitable living candidate. Since 1974 the statutes rule out a posthumous award unless death occurs after the announcement. The only posthumous Nobel Peace Prize went in 1961 to UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld.
Who has been awarded the prize so far?
From 1901 to 2025 the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded 106 times. 72 times it went to a single person or organisation, 31 times two laureates shared it and three times three did: in 1994 Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin, in 2011 Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkol Karman, in 2022 Ales Bialiatski with the human rights organisations Memorial and Center for Civil Liberties. The statutes do not allow more than three laureates per prize.
Of the 112 people awarded, 20 are women. The first was Bertha von Suttner in 1905. The youngest laureate is Malala Yousafzai, who received the prize in 2014 at the age of 17 for her work for the right of all children to education. The oldest was Joseph Rotblat, honoured in 1995 at 86 for his efforts to diminish the part played by nuclear arms in international politics.
Several laureates were in detention when the prize was awarded. The Nobel Foundation names Carl von Ossietzky in 1935, Aung San Suu Kyi in 1991, Liu Xiaobo in 2010, Ales Bialiatski in 2022 and Narges Mohammadi in 2023. A common mistake concerns Winston Churchill: he was nominated for the peace prize but received the 1953 Nobel Prize in Literature.
Alfred Nobel, will of 27 November 1895
One part to the person who has done the most or best to advance fellowship among nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and the establishment and promotion of peace congresses.
Sources
- Nobel Prize: Facts on the Nobel Peace Prize
- Nobel Prize: Nomination and selection of peace prize laureates
- Nobel Prize: Full text of Alfred Nobel’s will
- Nobel Prize: Nobel Prize facts, ceremony venues and announcements
- Nobel Prize: The Nobel Prize amounts
- Nobel Prize: 2026 announcement dates
- Norwegian Nobel Committee: Nomination
- Nobel Prize: Gustav Stresemann, Nobel Peace Prize 1926
- Nobel Prize: Ludwig Quidde, Nobel Peace Prize 1927
- Nobel Prize: Carl von Ossietzky, Nobel Peace Prize 1935
- Nobel Prize: Albert Schweitzer, Nobel Peace Prize 1952
- Nobel Prize: Willy Brandt, Nobel Peace Prize 1971
- Norwegian Nobel Committee: Nomination, registered candidates 2024 and 2025
- Nobel Prize: Theodore Roosevelt, Nobel Peace Prize 1906
- Nobel Prize: Woodrow Wilson, Nobel Peace Prize 1919
- Nobel Prize: Jimmy Carter, Nobel Peace Prize 2002
- Nobel Prize: Barack Obama, Nobel Peace Prize 2009
- Nobel Prize: Linus Pauling, Nobel Peace Prize 1962
- Nobel Prize: Le Duc Tho, Nobel Peace Prize 1973
Milestones of the prize
- 27 Nov 1895Alfred Nobel signs his will and founds five prizes, among them the peace prize.
- 10 Dec 1896Nobel dies. The anniversary of his death later becomes the day of the award.
- 1901First award, to Henry Dunant, founder of the Red Cross, and the pacifist Frédéric Passy.
- 1905Bertha von Suttner is the first woman to receive the prize.
- 1914 to 1916During the First World War the prize is not awarded for three years; in 1917 it goes to the Red Cross.
- 1936Carl von Ossietzky receives the prize for 1935 a year late.
- 1939 to 1943During the Second World War the prize goes unawarded for five years in a row.
- 1948No award. There was no suitable living candidate, the committee states in the year Mahatma Gandhi was murdered.
- 1971Willy Brandt is honoured for his policy of dialogue between East and West.
- 1990The ceremony moves to Oslo City Hall, where it is still held today.
- 9 Oct 2026This year’s prize is announced in Oslo; the award follows on 10 December.
Settlements the prize was awarded for
- The Camp David AccordsSeptember 1978 to March 1979Thirteen days without an audience, a mediator who would not let the parties leave, and at the end the first peace between Israel and an Arab state
- The Good Friday AgreementJune 1996 to May 1998After three decades of violence, two governments and eight parties agreed on an order that the public then voted on
- The Treaty of VersaillesJanuary 1919 to January 1920On 28 June 1919 the parties signed a treaty in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles that only one side had drafted. How long it could hold was decided by that
Frequently asked questions
When is the 2026 prize announced?
The Norwegian Nobel Committee announces the 2026 prize on Friday 9 October at 11:00 CEST in Oslo. It is awarded on 10 December.
How much money does the Nobel Peace Prize come with?
For 2026 the Nobel Foundation has set the prize money at 12 million Swedish kronor per full prize. If two or three laureates share the prize, the amount is divided. A medal and a diploma come with it.
Which US presidents have received the Nobel Peace Prize?
The laureates include Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 for his role in ending the war between Japan and Russia, Woodrow Wilson in 1919 as founder of the League of Nations, Jimmy Carter in 2002 for decades of effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, and Barack Obama in 2009.
For Obama, the committee gave as its reason his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.
Who has received the Nobel Prize twice?
For the peace prize, only organisations have been honoured more than once: the International Committee of the Red Cross three times, in 1917, 1944 and 1963, and the UN Refugee Agency twice, in 1954 and 1981. Linus Pauling received two Nobel Prizes in different fields, the chemistry prize in 1954 and the peace prize in 1962 for his fight against the nuclear arms race between East and West.
Was Adolf Hitler nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize?
Yes, once, in 1939. According to the Nobel Foundation, the Swedish member of parliament E. G. C. Brandt submitted the nomination as satirical criticism, because several members of parliament had nominated the British prime minister Neville Chamberlain. Brandt was an antifascist and withdrew the nomination in a letter dated 1 February 1939.
Has anyone ever declined the prize?
Yes, once. The Vietnamese politician Le Duc Tho declined the 1973 prize, which he was to receive together with Henry Kissinger for negotiating a ceasefire in Vietnam. He said he could not accept it given the situation in Vietnam.
From the prize to a step of your own
Behind every name on this list are years in which people stuck with a cause, often long before anyone honoured them. Peace rarely begins on a stage in Oslo, but where you yourself can move something: in your neighbourhood, your school, your club.
Find your peace mission