Norwegian Nobel Committee
| Norwegian: Den norske Nobelkomité | |
| Headquarters | Oslo, Norway |
|---|---|
| Website | nobelpeaceprize |
The Norwegian Nobel Committee (Norwegian: Den norske Nobelkomité) selects the recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize each year on behalf of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel's estate, based on instructions of Nobel's will.
Its five members are appointed by the Norwegian Parliament and today roughly represent the political makeup of that body. In his will, Alfred Nobel tasked the Parliament of Norway with selecting the winners of the Nobel Peace Prize. At the time, Norway and Sweden were in a loose personal union. Despite its members being appointed by parliament, the committee is a private body tasked with awarding a private prize. In recent decades, most committee members have been retired politicians.
The committee is assisted by the Norwegian Nobel Institute, its secretariat, and the committee holds their meetings in the institute's building, where the winner is also announced. The award ceremony, however, takes place in Oslo City Hall (since 1990).
Alfred Nobel died in December 1896, and in January 1897 the contents of his will were unveiled. It was written as early as in 1895. In his will, it was declared that a Nobel Peace Prize should be awarded "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", and that some of Nobel's money was to be donated to this prize. The Nobel Foundation manages the assets. The other Nobel Prizes were to be awarded by Swedish bodies (Swedish Academy, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Karolinska Institutet) that already existed, whereas the responsibility for the Peace Prize was given to the Norwegian Parliament, specifically "a committee of five persons to be elected" by it. A new body had to be created—the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
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