Nobel Prizes 2024: How do nominations work?

EXPLAINER

Here’s a look at all those who can nominate people for the Nobels. The list is long – very long.

This year, the Nobel Prize winners will be announced from October 7 to 14. The six coveted prizes reward advancements in science, economics, literature and towards peace.

The awards were first handed out in 1901 and have seen winners, or laureates, ranging from Mother Teresa to Martin Luther King Jr. It’s not just individuals — organisations can win the awards too. And on many occasions, multiple people or organisations — or an individual and an organisation — have shared a Nobel Prize.

To win a Nobel, one has to be nominated first. This year, the Nobel Peace Prize, arguably the most watched award of the six on offer, had 286 nominations – 197 individuals and 89 organisations.

But how do people get nominated to start with?

How does one get nominated for a Nobel Prize?

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

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

Nominations sent after the deadline are typically considered in the following year’s assessment, the Nobel Prize website says.

What are the six Nobel Prizes?

The prizes are awarded for advancements in:

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

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

Who can send a nomination for the Nobel Prizes?

The Nobel Committee maintains lists of who can qualify as a nominator for each of the six prizes.

Thousands of people falling under these criteria, can send in a nomination for people they believe deserve the prize. People cannot nominate themselves.

Here’s who qualifies to become a nominator:

For the Nobel Peace Prize:

• Members of national assemblies and governments of sovereign states as well as current heads of state
• Members of the International Court of Justice in The Hague
• Members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague
• Members of the Geneva-based Institut de Droit International, an organisation devoted to the study of international law
• Members of the International Board of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
• Directors of peace research institutes and foreign policy institutes
• Former Nobel Peace Prize winners
• Members of the main board of directors or its equivalent of organisations that have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
• Current and former members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee and former advisers to the Norwegian Nobel Committee
• University faculty in the fields of history, social sciences, law, philosophy, theology and religion alongside university rectors and university directors

For the Nobels in physics and chemistry:

• Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
• Members of the Nobel committees for these prizes
• Former Nobel laureates in these fields
• Tenured professors in physics and chemistry at the universities and institutes of technology of Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway and the Stockholm-based Karolinska Institutet
• Holders of corresponding chairs in at least six universities or university colleges selected by the Academy of Sciences across the world
• Other eminent scientists from whom the academy may see fit to invite proposals

For the Nobel in medicine:

• Members of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine
• Members in medicine and biology at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
• Former Nobel winners in medicine or chemistry
• Full professors at the faculties of medicine in Sweden and holders of similar posts at the faculties of medicine or similar institutions in Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway
• Holders of similar posts at no fewer than six other faculties of medicine at universities around the world who are selected by the Nobel Assembly
• Other eminent scientists whom the Nobel Assembly may otherwise see fit to approach

For the Nobel in literature:

• Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and of other academies, institutions and societies that are similar to it in construction and purpose
• Professors of literature and of linguistics at universities and university colleges
• Previous Nobel laureates in literature
• Presidents of societies of authors that are representative of the literary production in their respective countries

For the Nobel in economics:

• Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
• Members of the Nobel economics prize committee
• Former Nobel laureates in economics
• Permanent professors in relevant subjects at universities and colleges in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway
• Holders of corresponding chairs in at least six universities or colleges across the world who are selected by the Academy of Sciences
• Other eminent economists from whom the academy may see fit to invite proposals

Some controversial Nobel Peace Prize nominations in the past

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

The Nobel committee does not make public a list of nominees for 50 years.

In 2019, former United States President Donald Trump told his supporters he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Japan’s then-prime minister, Shinzo Abe, who did not confirm this.