In celebration of the International Day of Peace this coming September 21, let us look at the Nobel peace prize, an award giving body which aims to recognize organization or "persons who have done most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses"
- On 27 November 1895, Alfred Nobel signed his last will
and testament, giving the largest share of his fortune to a series of
prizes, the Nobel Prizes, one of which is the Nobel Peace prize. The Norwegian Nobel Committee is
responsible for the selection of eligible candidates and the choice of the
Nobel Peace Prize Laureates. The Committee is composed of five members
appointed by the Storting
(Norwegian parliament). The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway.
- Below is a brief description
of the process involved in selecting the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates.
- September – The Norwegian Nobel Committee prepares to
receive nominations. A nomination
for the Nobel Peace Prize may be submitted by only qualified
nominators. The names of the
nominees and other information about the nominations cannot be revealed
until 50 years later. The candidates eligible for the Nobel Peace Prize
are those submitted by qualified nominators as below:
- Members of national assemblies and governments of
states;
- Members of international
courts;
- University rectors;
professors of social sciences, history, philosophy, law and theology;
directors of peace research institutes and foreign policy institutes;
- Persons who have been
awarded the Nobel Peace Prize;
- Board members of
organizations who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize;
- Active and former members
of the Norwegian Nobel Committee; (proposals by members of the Committee
to be submitted no later than at the first meeting of the Committee
after February 1) and
- Former advisers appointed
by the Norwegian Nobel Institute.
- February – Deadline for submission. The Committee bases
its assessment on nominations that must be postmarked no later than 1
February each year. Nominations postmarked and received after this date
are included in the following year's discussions.
- February-March – Short list.
The Committee assesses.
- March-August – Adviser
review. The short list is reviewed by permanent advisers and advisers
specially recruited for their knowledge of specific candidates. The
advisers do not directly evaluate nominations nor give explicit
recommendations.
- October – Nobel Laureates
are chosen. At the beginning of October, the Nobel Committee chooses the
Nobel Peace Prize Laureates through a majority vote. The decision is
final and without appeal. The names of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates.
- December – Nobel Laureates
receive their prize. The Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony takes place on
10 December in Oslo, Norway, where the Nobel Laureates receive their
Nobel Prize, which consists of a Nobel Medal and Diploma, and a document
confirming the award.
- The face of the medal of the
Norwegian Nobel Committee shows
Alfred Nobel in a pose. The inscription reads: Pro pace et fraternitate gentium
translated "For the peace and brotherhood of men". The Nobel
Peace Prize Medal was designed by Gustav Vigeland.
- As of 2011, the Peace Prize
has been awarded to 101 individuals and 20 organizations. Some of the most
famous awardees are as follows:
- Henry Dunant (1901) - For his role in founding the
International Committee of the Red Cross
- Theodore Roosevelt (1906) -
For his successful mediation to end the Russo-Japanese war and for his
interest in arbitration, having provided the Hague arbitration court with
its very first case
- International Committee of
the Red Cross (1917/1944) - For
the great work it has performed during the war in behalf of humanity
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
(1964) - Campaigner for civil
rights, "first person in the Western world to have shown us that a
struggle can be waged without violence."
- UNICEF (1965) - An
international aid organization
- Mother Teresa (1979) -
Founder of Missionaries of Charity
- United Nations Peace Keeping
Forces (1988) - for their efforts
[that] have made important contributions towards the realization of one
of the fundamental tenets of the United Nations
- Nelson Mandela (1993) -
"for their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid
regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South
Africa"
- Jimmy Carter (2002) -
"for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to
international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to
promote economic and social development"
- Al Gore (2007) - for their
efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made
climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are
needed to counteract such change.
The individuals and
organizations awarded a Nobel Prize are called Nobel Laureates. The word "Laureate" refers to
being signified by the laurel wreath. In Greek mythology, the god Apollo is
represented wearing a laurel wreath on his head. A laurel wreath is a circular
crown made of branches and leaves of the bay laurel. In ancient Greek laurel wreaths were awarded
to victors as a sign of honor - both in athletic competitions and in poetic
meets.
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