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What are the official criteria for Nobel Peace Prize nominations?
Executive summary
The Nobel Peace Prize accepts nominations only from a defined list of “qualified nominators” (including parliamentarians, university professors in certain fields, past laureates, and senior judges) and nominations must be received by 31 January to be valid (the Norwegian Nobel Committee recorded 338 candidates for 2025) [1] [2]. The Committee itself may add names at its first meeting after the deadline and the whole nomination record is sealed for 50 years [2] [3].
1. Who may nominate: the official whitelist of qualified nominators
The statutes of the Nobel Foundation limit who can submit a valid peace‑prize nomination to specific categories: members of national assemblies and governments, current and former members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Nobel Peace Prize laureates, certain university professors (history, social sciences, law, philosophy, theology/religion), directors of peace‑research and foreign‑policy institutes, and members of international courts — among others listed by the Foundation and the Norwegian Nobel Committee [4] [1]. Independent outlets and research institutes summarise this the same way: although anyone can be named as a nominee, only people in those eligible categories may officially submit a nomination [5] [6].
2. Timing and format: the hard deadline and procedure
A nomination is considered valid only if submitted no later than 31 January of the award year; the submission is preferably made through an online form published by the Nobel Institute, and the formal nomination period typically opens in mid‑October and runs until the January deadline [2] [7]. After the deadline the Norwegian Nobel Committee holds its first meeting — by tradition in February — and committee members may add names to the list during that meeting [2].
3. What being “nominated” actually means — no official endorsement
The Norwegian Nobel Committee emphasises that to be nominated is not an official endorsement or a prize in itself; it simply means someone with nomination rights suggested the person or organization. A personal application by a candidate is not accepted [2]. Media and third‑party “lists” (for example think‑tank wish‑lists) often publicise possible candidates, but those do not equal official nominations unless sent by a qualified nominator [5] [6].
4. Committee process and secrecy: how nominations feed into selection
The Committee reviews all valid nominations, prepares a shortlist, commissions external reports and expert analyses, deliberates through the spring and summer, and reaches a final decision by consensus or majority vote sometime between mid‑August and late September [7]. Importantly, the statutes prevent disclosure of nominations, considerations or investigations for at least 50 years after the prize is awarded, so contemporary media cannot confirm nomination lists from official archives until they are opened decades later [3] [8].
5. Eligibility of nominees and limits (what the sources say and don’t say)
The sources state that “all living persons and active organizations or institutions are eligible candidates” (meaning posthumous nominations are generally not accepted) and that the Committee can rule out candidates who do not meet the spirit of the Prize [2] [9]. Available sources do not mention any exhaustive list of disqualifying conduct beyond the Committee’s evaluative judgment; they do, however, say a nominator cannot nominate themselves and posthumous nominations are not accepted [2] [10].
6. Practical implications and where disputes arise
Because nomination privilege is concentrated in elite institutions (parliaments, universities, courts, past laureates), critics argue the process favors establishment actors and can be political; defenders reply that restricting nominators preserves the prize’s seriousness [6] [4]. The Committee’s secrecy and political appointment by Norway’s parliament also fuel debate about transparency and bias — concerns visible in historical controversies and in contemporary reporting about nominees and winners [11] [9].
7. Quick facts, numbers and recordkeeping
For 2025 the Norwegian Nobel Institute registered 338 candidates (244 individuals, 94 organisations) and the laureate announcement traditionally falls on the Friday of the first full week of October with the award ceremony on 10 December; nomination lists are released only after 50 years as required by the Nobel Foundation statutes [2] [3] [10].
Limitations: this summary uses only the official Nobel/Norwegian Nobel Committee pages and affiliated reporting in the search results; available sources do not address any internal Committee deliberations beyond the published process, and they do not list every eligible nominator category verbatim in a single snippet [1] [7].