Officially, the Nobel Foundation and its prize committees never release the names of nominees prior to the formal announcement of winners late in each year. However, in most years, nominators themselves admit to the media the names of a few high-profile candidates for the prize which is most widely regarded by the general public, the Nobel Peace Prize. This year, leaked candidates include the Memorial human rights organization in Russia; Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo; and the Internet itself, for its contributions to human progress and world peace.
The Nobel Prizes were created by Swedish engineer and dynamite manufacturer Alfred Nobel after his death in the 1890s, and are administered according to the terms of his will by the Nobel Foundation. Five awards were originally specified in the will, in Peace, Chemistry, Literature, Physics, and Medicine. Since the 1960s, a sixth award has also been given in Economics, created and funded separately by Sveriges Riksbank but awarded alongside the true Nobel Prizes. Winners are given for each award in each year, with the exception of brief breaks during the two world wars. The nomination process is lengthy, involving nominations submitted by several thousand qualified nominators and review by a central Nobel Prize committee. This committee first creates a short list from the names submitted (typically several hundred, and somewhat less for the Peace Prize), and finally a winner.
Traditionally, this entire process is considered secret, and lists of nominees are never announced. The Nobel Foundation does now make available lists of nominations after a fifty-year waiting period, and lists of nominees for the Peace Prize from its inception in 1901 through 1956 is now available online from that organization. The publication of the Peace Prize nominations list resulted in some surprising public revelations – for instance, Joseph Stalin was nominated for the award numerous times. Adolf Hitler even received one nomination, although it was submitted in protest after the Munich Agreement. (The nominator in question argued that if British prime minister Neville Chamberlain should be considered for a Peace Prize after signing such a dangerously futile treaty, then his antagonist Hitler might as well have been given one, too.)
However, the restrictions which govern the Nobel Foundation committees do not apply to the external nominators themselves. As a result, each year at least a few Nobel Prize nominees are announced by those who have submitted their names for consideration. In early 2010, press coverage identified four nominees under consideration for this year’s Nobel Prizes. One is Liu Xiaobo, a Chinese democracy activist currently serving an eleven-year prison sentence for protesting against the Chinese government. The government of the People’s Republic of China, predictably, has gone on record opposing his nomination.
In addition, at least one nomination has been put forward for the Memorial organization, a Russian activist group which has in recent years come under violent attack by the government in that country. Also up for consideration is George Ryan, who was governor of Illionis from 1999 to 2003. During that time, Ryan issued a moratorium on the death penalty, for which he is being considered for the award. The fact that he was subsequently accused and convicted of corruption (for which he is now in prison) will likely preclude him from the final shortlist.
The most unusual candidate, perhaps, is the Internet itself. The Internet was nominated by an Italian magazine on the basis of a reader poll, for its contributions towards improving international communication and global progress since its inception.
The actual winner of the Nobel Peace Prize will be announced in late 2010, and the prize given out at a celebration in Norway. As usual, there will be no public indication of the winner prior to the official announcement. However, the Nobel Foundation came under some criticism in 2009 for awarding a Peace Prize to U.S. President Barack Obama, who was at the time just beginning his period in office and therefore had made few actual achievements. As a result, this year’s award will probably go to an individual or organization with a more proven track record.
