The nomination process

The nomination process is an eight-month screening and decision-making process.

1. Submission period
   Nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize are accepted until January 31.
2. Limited nomination period
   Nominations for next year's candidates are welcome from 1 September.
3. Committee hand-over
   Nominations submitted by the January 31 deadline are handed over to the Nobel Committee in mid-February.
4. Short-list
   The Nobel Committee reviews all valid nominations and prepares a short-list for further examination.
5. External analysis
   Candidate reports are submitted by the Committee's permanent advisers and other Norwegian or international experts.
6. Deliberations
   The Committee meets regularly from mid-February through September to discuss and steadily narrow the field of candidates.
7. The Committee decides
   The Norwegian Nobel Committee decides who will be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
8. Announcement
   The Nobel Peace Prize laureate is announced on the Friday of the first full week of October.

In practice, the nomination process is an eight-month screening and decision-making process involving not only the five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee and its Secretary but also a group of Norwegian and international advisers. The advisers, selected on the basis of their professional experience and academic expertise, prepare individual reports on the candidates that the Committee has put on its short-list. The initial reports are usually ready by the end of April. The Committee members then study the reports together with other relevant information and start their deliberations. More often than not they will ask for further reports on various candidates. As they continue their deliberations throughout the summer and receive additional reports from the advisers, they narrow the field of candidates down to a very small group.

Eventually, by the beginning of October at the latest, the Committee makes its decision through a simple majority vote. The decision is final and without appeal. The name(s) of that year's Nobel Peace Prize Laureate(s) is then announced. The cycle is completed on 10 December, when the annual Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony takes place in the Oslo City Hall. At the ceremony, the Laureate(s) delivers the Nobel Lecture and receives the Nobel Medal and Diploma as well as a document confirming the prize amount.