Explainer: How is the Nobel Peace Prize decided?

January 30, 2026 – 11:42 AM

The dove of peace flies from the window of the Nobel Peace Center in connection with the announcement of the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize winner, the Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo, in Oslo, Norway October 11, 2024. (NTB/Thomas Fure/via Reuters)

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Award given by five-strong committee appointed by parliament

Committee is independent from the government

— U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize and has expressed his anger at Norway, the country where the award is given, for not giving it to him.

Here is a look at how the award works:

Who decides?

Norwegian Nobel Committee

, which consists of five individuals appointed by the Norwegian parliament. Members are often retired politicians, but not always. The current committee is led by the head of the Norwegian branch of PEN International, a group defending freedom of expression. Another member is an academic.

They are all put forward by Norwegian political parties and their appointments reflect the balance of power in Norway’s parliament.

Does the Norwegian government decide who gets the prize?

No. Once the political parties appoint their respective candidates to the committee, they do not get involved in its work.

Only the five members of the committee and its secretary participate in the meetings. No minutes are kept.

The government finds out the name of the laureate, or laureates, at the same time as everyone else, when the chair announces it in October.

Has Norway experienced pressure from foreign countries before?

In 2010, China froze diplomatic relations with Norway over the award to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, suspending negotiations over a bilateral trade agreement.

The two countries eventually resumed diplomatic relations and agreed to resume trade negotiations in 2017. They have not yet signed a trade deal.

Can the prize be given away?

A laureate can give the medal, the diploma or the money to someone else, but the honour of receiving the award is “inseparably linked” to the person or organisation who receives it, the Nobel committee said on January 15.

Their statement came a day after last year’s laureate, Venezuela’s Maria Corina Machado gave her medal to Trump in a bid to influence his efforts to shape her country’s political future.

Who can win the prize?

The short answer is: whoever fits the description set out in the 1895 will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel. It says the

prize

The more complicated answer is that the prize “needs to be placed in the current context”, according to Kristian Berg Harpviken, the award committee’s secretary, who prepares the work for the award body. He participates in the deliberations but does not vote.

“And processes here can mean anything from a specific peace process to a new type of international agreement that is under development or that has recently been adopted.”

Who can nominate?

Thousands of people can propose names: members of governments and parliaments; current heads of state; university professors of history, social sciences, law and philosophy; and former Nobel Peace Prize laureates, among others.

Nominations close on January 31. Members of the committee can make their own nominations too, no later than at their first meeting in February. The full list is locked in a vault for 50 years.

This means the nomination process for the 2026 award is ongoing.

How does the committee decide?

The committee discusses all the nominations, then establishes a shortlist. Each nominee is then assessed and examined by a group of permanent advisers and other experts.

The committee meets roughly once a month to discuss the nominations. The decision tends to be taken in August or in September, said Harpviken.

The committee seeks to reach a consensus on its selection. If it cannot, the decision is made by majority vote.

What does the laureate get?

A gold medal, a diploma, 11 million Swedish crowns ($1.21 million) and immediate global attention.

When are the announcement and the ceremony?

The announcement takes place on a Friday in October at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo and is made by the committee’s chair.

The ceremony takes place at the Oslo City Hall on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death.

($1 = 9.1206 Swedish crowns)

—Reporting by Gwladys Fouche in Oslo; Editing by Alex Richardson