Nobel Peace Prize

The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the prestigious international awards founded by Alfred Nobel, a Swedish chemist and innovator, who invented dynamite. Along with the peace award, he listed 4 more awards in his will of 1895, to be given to individuals who excelled in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, and literature. Though the will was out in 1895, it had certain shortcomings, as a result of which the first Nobel Prize was awarded only in 1901.

Who can be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize?
The criteria for the Nobel Peace Prize is different from the rest of the awards. While the other 4 prizes are awarded for excellence in particular fields, the peace prize could either be given to an individual or an organization, working to achieve world peace. In the words of Alfred Nobel, the peace prize should be granted to the person who shall have done the 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.

Date and Venue of the Ceremony
The Nobel Prize ceremony is held in Stockholm, Sweden, but the Peace Prize ceremony is held in Oslo, the capital city of Norway, before the Norwegian royal family on December 10, the death anniversary of Alfred Nobel. On the following day, the Nobel Peace Prize concert is held, which is an highly publicized event.

Nomination and Selection
The selection committee of the Peace Prize is different from that of other awards. The other Nobel Prize winners are selected by committees related to that particular field. However, in case of the Peace Prize, the recipient is chosen by a team of 5 members known as the Norwegian Nobel Committee, selected by the Norwegian Parliament. The nomination for the Peace Prize can be suggested by members of National assemblies and congresses, or by international judges, university professors (only of science, theology, history, law and philosophy), former advisors of the Prize Committee and also people who have earlier received this award. The nominations are kept as a secret, however a database listing the names of the nominees from the year 1901 to 1951 has been brought out.

The Nobel Peace Prize
The winner of this prestigious award is known as the Nobel Laureate and is awarded a gold medal, a diploma and a certificate stating the cash prize. The medal has a picture of Alfred Nobel on both sides. Currently, the awarded cash prize is 10 million Swedish crowns, which approximates to 1.2 million US dollars.

Nobel Peace Prize Winners
The first Nobel Peace Prize was shared by two people namely, Jean Henry Dunant from Switzerland, the founder of the International Committee of Red Cross, Geneva and Frederic Passy from France, the founder and President of French Peace Society. The first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize was Bertha Von Suttner, who was the honorary President of Permanent International Peace Bureau, Switzerland. Other well-known Nobel Peace Prize winners are the 14th Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, Theodore Roosevelt, Kofi Annan, etc. The International Red Cross Committee has been awarded the Peace Prize thrice. Martti Ahtisaari was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008 for his efforts in resolving international conflicts.

Controversial Peace Prize Winners
The Nobel Peace Prize is the most controversial award among all the Nobel Prizes. The Norwegian Nobel committee has been criticized many times for choosing controversial people as Nobel Laureates. Some of them included Menachem Begin, Woodrow Wilson, Yasser Arafat, Martin Luther King Jr., Henry Kissinger, Cordell Hull, etc. When the database of the nominations was released, it was found that Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Joseph Stalin were also nominated for the Peace Prize. However, as the nominations were not made by the committee members, they could not be held responsible for such cases. There have also been controversies for not awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to certain people who have contributed towards world peace. The most debated person in this case was Mahatma Gandhi, who was nominated several times, but was never granted the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Nobel Prize is an award that is held in high regard. Regardless of the controversies surrounding it, it serves as an encouragement for people, who are constantly striving to achieve peace in times of terror and war in the world.