Nobel Prizes 2024: How do nominations work? | Explanatory messages

EXPLANATION

Here is a list of all the people who can nominate people for the Nobel Prize. The list is long – very long.

This year’s Nobel Prize winners will be announced October 7–14. Six prestigious awards recognize progress in science, economics, literature and peace.

The awards were first given in 1901 and the winners, or recipients, ranged from Mother Teresa to Martin Luther King Jr. It’s not just individuals who can earn awards – organizations can earn them too. On many occasions, multiple people or organizations – as well as an individual and an organization – have jointly received the Nobel Prize.

To receive a Nobel Prize, you must first be nominated. This year, 286 people were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, probably the most watched of the six prizes on offer – 197 individuals and 89 organizations.

But where do you start to get people nominated?

How to get nominated for the Nobel Prize?

The committee tasked with selecting the winner of each award sends out nomination forms or calls for proposals to “eligible nominators.”

The deadline for submitting nominations this year was January 31. In most years, the deadline is around the end of January.

According to the Nobel Prize website, nominations submitted after the deadline are usually considered for consideration the following year.

What are the six Nobel Prizes?

Rewards are awarded for progress in:

• Physics
• Chemistry
• Physiology or medicine
• Literature
• Room
• Economics

The Nobel Prize in Economics is actually known as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences. Unlike other Nobel Prizes, this one was first awarded in 1969.

Who can submit a Nobel Prize nomination?

The Nobel Committee maintains lists of people who may qualify as nominators for each of the six awards.

Thousands of people who meet these criteria can send nominations to people they think deserve the award. People cannot nominate themselves.

Here’s who qualifies to be a nominator:

For the Nobel Peace Prize:

• Members of national assemblies and governments of sovereign states, as well as heads of state present
• Members of the International Court of Justice in The Hague
• Members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague
• Members of the Institut de Droit International based in Geneva, an organization dealing with the study of international law
• Members of the International Board of the International Women’s League for Peace and Freedom
• Directors of peace research institutes and foreign policy institutes
• Former Nobel Peace Prize winners
• Members of the general board or equivalent of an organization that has received the Nobel Peace Prize
• Current and former members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee and former advisers to the Norwegian Nobel Committee
• University staff in the fields of history, social sciences, law, philosophy, theology and religion, including rectors and university directors

For the Nobel Prize in Physics and Chemistry:

• Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
• Members of the Nobel committees dealing with these prizes
• There have been Nobel Prize winners in these fields
• Appointed professors of physics and chemistry at the universities and technical institutes of Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway and at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm
• Holders of appropriate chairs in at least six universities or university colleges selected by the Academy of Sciences throughout the world
• Other distinguished scientists from whom the academy may deem fit to invite applications

For the Nobel Prize in Medicine:

• Members of the Nobel Committee in Physiology or Medicine
• Members of Medicine and Biology of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
• There have been Nobel Prize winners in medicine or chemistry
• Full professors at faculties of medicine in Sweden and persons holding similar positions at faculties of medicine or similar institutions in Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway
• Individuals holding similar positions in at least six other medical faculties of universities around the world, elected by the Nobel Assembly
• Other eminent scientists whom the Nobel Assembly might otherwise turn to

For the Nobel Prize in Literature:

• Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and other academies, institutions and societies similar in structure and purpose to it
• Professors of literature and linguistics at universities and university colleges
• Previous winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature
• Presidents of associations of authors representing literary work in their countries

For the Nobel Prize in Economics:

• Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
• Members of the Nobel Prize in Economics committee
• Former Nobel Prize winners in economics
• Permanent professors of relevant subjects at universities and colleges in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway
• Holders of relevant chairs in at least six universities or colleges around the world, selected by the Academy of Sciences
• Other distinguished economists from whom the academy may deem it appropriate to invite proposals

Some controversial Nobel Peace Prize nominations in the past

• Adolf Hitler, the leader of Nazi Germany, was nominated in 1939 by an anti-fascist lawmaker from Sweden in a satirical move. There was no Nobel Peace Prize awarded this year.
• Soviet leader Joseph Stalin was nominated twice, in 1945 and 1948. In 1945, Cordell Hull, who founded the United Nations, won, and in 1948 no award was given.
• Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini was nominated in 1935. The award was won by German journalist Carl von Ossietzky.

The Nobel Committee has not published the list of nominees for 50 years.

In 2019, former US President Donald Trump told his supporters that he had been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who did not confirm it.