The Nobel Peace Prize

Malala Yousafzai – awarded the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize – donated this scarf to the Nobel Prize Museum which she wore when she argued for all children's right to education at the United Nations headquarters in 2013.

Photo: Nobel Prize Museum

About the prize

“The said interest shall be divided into five equal parts, which shall be apportioned as follows: /- – -/ one part to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.” (Excerpt from the will of Alfred Nobel)

Alfred Nobel showed a big interest in social issues and was engaged in the peace movement. His acquaintance with Bertha von Suttner, who was a driving force in the international peace movement in Europe and later awarded the peace prize, influenced his views on peace. Peace was the fifth and final prize area that Nobel mentioned in his will. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded by a committee elected by the Norwegian Parliament (Stortinget).

See all peace prize laureates or learn about the nomination process.

The Nobel Peace Prize 2024

A powerful international norm stigmatising nuclear weapons

The grassroots movement of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, also known as Hibakusha, is receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again. The extraordinary efforts of Nihon Hidankyo and other representatives of the Hibakusha have contributed greatly to the establishment of a nuclear taboo.

Press release
Prize announcement

Ill. Niklas Elmehed © Nobel Prize Outreach

Nihon Hidankyo

The fates of those who survived the infernos of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were long concealed and neglected. In 1956, local Hibakusha associations along with victims of nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific formed the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organisations. This name was shortened in Japanese to Nihon Hidankyo. It would become the largest and most influential Hibakusha organisation in Japan.

Did you know?

Behind the scenes

Questions and answers

Can anyone be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize?

Listen to the Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee Jørgen Watne Frydnes on the nomination process of the peace prize.

Nobel Prize nominations

Nobel Peace Prize 2024

2024 Nobel Peace Prize nominations

The Norwegian Nobel Committee received a total of 286 candidates for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize. 89 of these are organisations.

Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony 2021. — Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony 2021 in the Oslo City Hall in Norway.

© Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: Geir Anders Rybakken Ørslien.

Q&A

Are the nominations made public?

Did you know that there is no public list of the current year’s nominees for the peace prize? The complete list of nominees of any year’s prizes is not disclosed for 50 years. The same goes for all the prize categories. Learn more about the nomination process in this Q&A.