Explained: How Nobel Prize Winners Are Chosen By The Award Committee

For the second time Nobel Prize season has returned under the pandemic spotlight with awarding of the prize in Physiology or Medicine, Physics and Chemistry while Literature, Peace, and Economics Sciences prizes are yet to be awarded.

Interestingly, this is the first time climate scientists, Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann and Giorgio Parisi have been jointly awarded the Physics Nobel for contributing to the understanding of complex physical systems.

Earlier, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had won the Peace Nobel in 2007, an acknowledgement of its efforts in creating awareness for the fight against climate change, while a Chemistry Nobel to Paul Crutzen in 1995, for his work on the Ozone layer, is considered the only other time someone from atmospheric sciences has won this honour.

But, how does one get nominated for this coveted Prize?

Nominations to most of the Nobel prizes are by invitation only. However, anyone, who meets the nominating criteria can nominate the candidate.

Each year, thousands of University professors, members of academies, and previous Nobel Laureates, and members of parliamentary assemblies are asked to submit candidates for the Nobel Prize for the coming year.

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After receiving the nominations, respective institutions of different fields are responsible for the selection of candidates.

How do we know who is nominated this year?

Some of those who have proposed nominees for this year have publicly announced their choices.

For that reason, we know that among the 2021 nominees are exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and two other Belarus democracy activists, Veronika Tsepkalo and Maria Kolesnikova; the Black Lives Matter movement; Alexei Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin¡¯s fiercest critic; Stacey Abrams, the former Georgia gubernatorial candidate who has become a leading U.S. voting rights advocate; and former White House adviser Jared Kushner and his deputy, Avi Berkowitz, who negotiated a series of Mideast agreements known as the Abraham Accords.

Groups nominated in 2021 include the World Health Organization for its role in addressing the coronavirus pandemic; NATO; Reporters Without Borders, known by its French acronym RSF; and Polish judges defending civil rights.

Who awards the Nobel Prize?

In his will, Alfred Nobel designated the institutions responsible for the prizes he wished to establish: Karolinska Institutet for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for the Nobel Prize in Physics and Chemistry, the Swedish Academy for the Nobel Prize in Literature, and a Committee of five persons to be elected by the Norwegian Parliament (Norwegian Nobel Committee) for the Nobel Peace Prize.

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However, the sixth category, Economic Sciences, was not originally listed in Alfred Nobel¡¯s will. It was established in 1968 by Sveriges Riksbank who established the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.

Process of selection

The process of selection begins in the month of September every year the Nobel Prize is to be awarded.

September: The Nobel committee invites qualified personnel to nominate extraordinary work.
January: January 31 is the deadline for submitting nominations.
February: The Nobel committee screens the nominations and selects preliminary candidates.
March-May: In spring, the committee meets and consults with experts.
June-August: The Nobel committee puts together the report with the expert recommendations.
September: The Nobel committee submits the final recommendation report to the respective academies.
October: The Nobel Laureates are chosen through a majority of votes. The decision is final and without appeal. The names of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates are then announced.
December: The Nobel Laureates receive their prizes.

What is 50-year secrecy rule?

The Committee does not itself announce the names of nominees, neither to the media nor to the candidates themselves.

In so far as certain names crop up in the advance speculations as to who will be awarded any given year¡¯s Prize, this is either sheer guesswork or information put out by the person or persons behind the nomination.

Information in the Nobel Committee¡¯s nomination database is not made public until after fifty years.

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