The Rules of the Game

Eligibility:

A prospective Nobel candidate must be an institution, individual or association, have a published body of work, and be alive. Posthumous prizes are awarded only to announced winners who die before the Dec. 10 awards ceremony.

Nominations:

Must be made in writing, by individuals, and received by Feb. 1 of an award year.

Candidates may be nominated by:

Previous laureates within a field.

Professors, from specified institutions or by invitation.

Chairs of authors’ organizations (literature).

Members of international parliamentary or legal organizations (peace).

Members of parliaments and governments (peace).

Nobel Committee members in the relevant spheres. Members of the prize-awarding bodies (the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, for physics, chemistry and economics; the Swedish Academy, for literature; the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute, for medicine; and the Norwegian Nobel Committee, for peace.)

Selection:

The committees examine the proposals, sometimes with help from appointed experts, throughout the spring and summer of the award year. By early fall, they submit narrowed-down lists to the prize-awarding bodies. Members of these institutions then vote on a laureate in each field, traditionally in mid- October.

If no achievement is found prizeworthy in a category, that prize money goes back into the Nobel Foundation fund pool.

Announcements:

Made at press conference immediately after the voting in mid-October. On Dec. 10, the Swedish king presents medals and diplomas to winners in physics, chemistry, physiology/medicine and economics in Stockholm. The Peace Prize medal(s) and diploma(s) are presented in Oslo. About 1,300 guests attend the Nobel banquet at the Stockholm City Hall. Laureates deliver a “Nobel lecture” before or shortly after the awards ceremonies.