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 was 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 places in Oslo City Hall (since 1990).
Read more about Norwegian Nobel Committee: History, List of Chairpersons, Members 2012–14, Secretariat
Famous quotes containing the words nobel and/or committee:
“Parents can fail to cheer your successes as wildly as you expected, pointing out that you are sharing your Nobel Prize with a couple of other people, or that your Oscar was for supporting actress, not really for a starring role. More subtly, they can cheer your successes too wildly, forcing you into the awkward realization that your achievement of merely graduating or getting the promotion did not warrant the fireworks and brass band.”
—Frank Pittman (20th century)
“A committee is organic rather than mechanical in its nature: it is not a structure but a plant. It takes root and grows, it flowers, wilts, and dies, scattering the seed from which other committees will bloom in their turn.”
—C. Northcote Parkinson (1909–1993)