The Norwegian Committee will announce this Friday the new Nobel Peace Prizean award called to recognize the work of one or more people or organizations to make the world a better place. The president of the United States, Donald Trumphas spared no opportunity to claim how much he supposedly deserves it, but the agitated noise from the White House does not fit with the real forecasts.
The Nobel Peace Prize is always announced on Friday of the first full week of October, so this October 10 at 11:00 the new award will be announced by the president of the Norwegian Committee, Jorgen Watne Frydnesin a solemn declaration that will also include a statement of reasons by the jury.
Since the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901, there have already been 105 awards with a total of 139 laureates, among whom There are 92 men, 19 women and 28 organizationsamong them the main Japanese association for atomic bomb victims, known as Nihon Hidankyo.
338 applications
The Norwegian Institute has registered for the 2025 edition a total of 338 candidatures, 244 of them correspond to individuals and 94 to organizations. The registration period ended on January 31, so since then the process has consisted of successive screenings and debates behind closed doors.
Official nominations are secret and are not made public until after 50 years, but the regulation does not establish any rule of silence for those who present a candidacy. No one can nominate themselvesbut the criteria for submitting candidatures are not especially restrictive and include everything from members of governments or parliaments to university professors from anywhere in the world.
There is no clear criterion from which to justify the award and The arguments have varied over the years. Thus, until World War I the jury mainly opted for pioneers of the pacifist movement, while after World War II issues such as disarmament, negotiation for peace, the defense of democracy and Human Rights were recognized.
In the 21st century, the fight against climate change and the defense of the environment has also been incorporated into the list of arguments, in line with the evolution of global concerns and challenges. What has remained unchanged throughout history, however, is that the Committee does not have the ability to revoke a Nobel Prize.
Possible candidates
Every year, betting houses prepare their own lists of favorites, which usually include names of leaders or organizations known to the general public but who do not tend to have special recognition among experts, as could be the case with Trump.
The president of the United States, who Proclaims himself the finisher of “seven wars”, He no longer hides at this point that he wants to win the Nobel Peace Prize and even last week, in an event before the military, he declared that it would be an “insult” if they did not take him into account.
Although the closing of registration took place just eleven days after Trump returned to sit in the Oval Office as the winner of the 2024 presidential elections, it is reasonable to assume that his name may be among those proposed.
The director of the Oslo Peace Research Institute (PRIO), Nina Graegerinstead proposes five options: the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Sudan Emergency Response Rooms, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and the Carter Center; the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom; and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Historical controversies
The awarding of the Nobel Prize to Trump seems unlikely but, in any case, it would not be an unprecedented milestone, since the list of winners includes four presidents of the United States, the last of them Barack Obama in 2009the same year he came to power.
Among the historical absences, the Nobel organizers themselves highlight on their website Mahatma Gandhi, a symbol of non-violence in the 20th century and who does appear in historical archives as a nominee on five occasions, the last of them a few days before his assassination in 1948.
The Controversy can also arise from the people and institutions that have ended up appearing on the list of winners.especially when it comes to recognition of politicians. The Norwegian Committee had to respond to requests to withdraw the Nobel Prize from the Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi for orchestrating a repression of the Rohingya minority by the Government.
