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
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
- 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
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.
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.
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.
Can you find out beforehand who has been nominated?
No. The names of nominees and nominators stay secret for 50 years. Lists circulating before the announcement do not come from the committee.
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 peace accord in Vietnam.
Why was the prize sometimes not awarded?
If the committee finds no nomination that meets the yardstick of the will, it may decide not to award the prize. That happened 19 times, among others in both world wars and in 1948, when the committee stated there was no suitable living candidate.
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
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
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