A committee of five persons, elected by the Norwegian Parliament, will be responsible for the selection of the peace prize laureate.
GETTING nominated for a Nobel Prize – be it for physics, literature, chemistry, medicine, economic sciences and peace – is not exactly a walk in the park.
Apart from possessing a stellar, at the very least, prominent track record as a nominee, their nominators must also be individuals of repute and credibility.
At the same time, save for the Nobel Prize for the peace category, the nomination for other fields can only commence through an invitation from the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
“Only people who fulfil the criteria set out by the prize-awarding institutions are allowed to nominate candidates for the Nobel Prize,” the Nobel Prize website states.
For example, aspiring Nobel physics laureates must be nominated by among others, the Swedish and foreign members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, members of the Nobel Committee for Physics or the Nobel Prize laureates in the same field.
A personal application for any award will not be considered, it stresses.
The Nobel Prize website also states other physics laureate nominators should be tenured professors in the physical sciences at the universities and institutes of technology of Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway, and Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm; holders of corresponding chairs in at least six universities or university colleges selected by the Academy of Sciences and; other scientists whom the Academy may see fit to invite proposals.
As for the Nobel Prize for Peace, the nominators are of varied categories; from the heads of state to former advisers to the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Among potential nominators include members of national assemblies and national governments, such as parliamentarians and cabinet ministers.
Members of The International Court of Justice in The Hague and The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, members of l’Institut de Droit International, and Members of the International Board of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom are also eligible to nominate.
“(Other nominators include) university professors, professors emeriti and associate professors of history, social sciences, law, philosophy, theology, and religion; university rectors and university directors (or their equivalents); directors of peace research institutes and foreign policy institutes,” according to the website.
As for the selection of winners, Alfred Nobel in his will states that the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences will be responsible for the physics, chemistry and economic sciences categories, the Swedish Academy for the literature category and a committee of five persons, elected by the Norwegian Parliament, will sort out for the peace prize laureate.
