The 2021

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolog ...

was announced by the Norwegian Nobel Committee in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

on 8 October 2021.

Maria Ressa Maria Angelita Ressa (, born Maria Angelita Delfin Aycardo on October 2, 1963) is a Filipino and American journalist. She is the co-founder and CEO of Rappler. She previously spent nearly two decades working as a lead investigative reporter in S ...

(b. 1963) and

Dmitry Muratov Dmitry Andreyevich Muratov (russian: Дмитрий Андреевич Муратов; born 29 October 1961) is a Russian journalist, television presenter and the editor-in-chief of the Russian newspaper ''Novaya Gazeta''. He was awarded the 202 ...

(b. 1961) received the prize "for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace." The formal award ceremony was held in Oslo on 10 December 2021, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death. In 2020, the ceremony returned to its former venue, the Atrium of the

University of Oslo Faculty of Law The Faculty of Law ( no, Det juridiske fakultet) of the University of Oslo is Norway's oldest law faculty, established in 1811 as one of the four original faculties of The Royal Frederick University (renamed the University of Oslo in 193 ...

, after being held in Oslo City Hall during the period 1990–2019. In 2021, the ceremony returned to Oslo City Hall. There were 329 candidates for the prize when nominations closed on 31 January 2021. The

Norwegian News Agency The Norwegian News Agency ( no, Norsk Telegrambyrå; abbreviated NTB) is a Norwegian press agency and wire service that serves most of the largest Norwegian media outlets. The agency is located in Oslo and has bureaus in Brussels in Belgium and T ...

reported earlier in 2021 that Maria Ressa had been nominated by

Jonas Gahr Støre Jonas Gahr Støre (; born 25 August 1960) is a Norwegian politician who has served as the prime minister of Norway since 2021 and has been Leader of the Labour Party since 2014. He served under Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg as Minister of For ...

, the designated Prime Minister following the 2021 election, and many sources in Russia claim that Dmitry Muratov was nominated by Mikhail Gorbachev.

Nomination process

Different groups of qualified nominators may nominate candidates, including members of national assemblies and national governments, heads of state, judges of certain international courts, (full) professor-level academics in relevant fields, and former laureates; a significant proportion of the nominations are submitted by Norwegian MPs and academics. Nominations are submitted to the Oslo-based Norwegian Nobel Committee, usually in a

Scandinavian language The North Germanic languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages—a sub-family of the Indo-European languages—along with the West Germanic languages and the extinct East Germanic languages. The language group is als ...

(Norwegian, Swedish, Danish) or English. Nominations for the 2021 prize opened on 1 September 2020 and closed on 31 January 2021 ( Norwegian time).

Candidates

There are 329 candidates in 2021, 234 individuals and 95 organizations. The Nobel Foundation is not allowed to publish nominations for at least 50 years. Individual nominators can, and sometimes do, choose to publish their nomination, and Norwegian media often report nominations by qualified nominators such as members of parliament and qualified academics. The

reported on 31 January 2021 that the 2021 nominees confirmed by qualified Norwegian nominators (MPs or academics) before the deadline included the following candidates:

Laureates

On 8 October 2021, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced its decision to award the prize to journalists

and

"for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace." As a result, the Nobel Prize Committee was criticized for rewarding Muratov and not jailed Russian opposition leader

Alexei Navalny Alexei Anatolievich Navalny ( rus, links=no, Алексей Анатольевич Навальный, , ɐlʲɪkˈsʲej ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲɪtɕ nɐˈvalʲnɨj; born 4 June 1976) is a Russian opposition leader, lawyer, and anti-corruption act ...

, as an attempt by the Committee "to keep the maximum distance from the current political process" in Russia. Muratov has said that he would have given the prize to

if it were his choice. The U.S. government assessed that Russian intelligence was behind an attack on Dmitry Muratov for criticizing the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine.

Prize committee

The members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee are elected by the Norwegian Parliament and are responsible for selecting the laureate in accordance with the will of Alfred Nobel; the committee's members in 2021 are: *

Berit Reiss-Andersen Berit Reiss-Andersen (born 11 July 1954) is a Norwegian lawyer, author and former politician for the Norwegian Labour Party. She is chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, the 5-member committee that awards the Nobel Peace Prize. She is also a ...

(chair, born 1954), advocate (barrister) and former President of the Norwegian Bar Association, former state secretary for the

Minister of Justice and the Police In Norway, the Minister of Justice and Public Security is the head of the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Justice and the Police and a member of Government of Norway. The current Justice Minister is Emilie Enger Mehl. Until 1 January 2012 the post w ...

(representing the Labour Party). Member of the Norwegian Nobel Committee since 2012, reappointed for the period 2018–2023. *

Asle Toje Asle Toje (born February 16, 1974) is the Deputy Leader of the Norwegian Nobel Committee (2018-2023). He is a foreign policy scholar and was Research Director at the Norwegian Nobel Institute from 2009 until he joined the Nobel Peace Prize Committe ...

(vice chair, born 1974), foreign policy scholar. Appointed for the period 2018–2023. * Anne Enger (born 1949), former Leader of the Centre Party and

Minister of Culture A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organizatio ...

. Member since 2018, reappointed for the period 2021–2026. * Kristin Clemet (born 1957), former Minister of Government Administration and Labour and Minister of Education and Research. Appointed for the period 2021–2026. * Jørgen Watne Frydnes (born 1984), former board member of

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF; pronounced ), also known as Doctors Without Borders, is a humanitarian medical non-governmental organisation (NGO) or charity of French origin known for its projects in conflict zones and in countries affected by endemic diseases. ...

Norway, board member of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee. Appointed for the period 2021–2026.

Prize ceremony

The award ceremony was held in Oslo on 10 December 2021, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death. In 2020 the ceremony returned to its former venue, the Atrium of the

, after being held in Oslo City Hall during the period 1990–2019. In 2021 the ceremony was once again held in Oslo City Hall.

References

{{2021 Nobel Prize winners

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...