OSLO: The Norwegian Nobel Committee has confirmed that 287 candidates have been nominated for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, comprising 208 individuals and 79 organisations, the Committee announced today.
The Committee said the sustained high number of nominations reflects robust global interest in the Peace Prize, noting that even in an increasingly conflictual world, there is no shortage of candidates whose principled commitment and innovative action point toward a brighter future. It added that the values underpinning the prize – peaceful dialogue, conflict resolution and international cooperation – are more important than ever.
Nominations for the prize are submitted to the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s secretariat by 31 January each year. Members of the Committee may add further names to the list of candidates during their first meeting following the nomination deadline; this year, that meeting was held on 26 February.
Under the provisions of Alfred Nobel’s will, the Norwegian Nobel Committee is responsible for awarding the Peace Prize to the person or organisation that has conferred the greatest benefit on humankind in the field of peace. After reviewing all qualified nominations, the Committee draws up a short-list of the most interesting and worthy candidates at its first meeting of the year.
The Committee’s deliberations draw on outside expertise: for each candidate and topic, it seeks assessments from leading academics and experts with specialised knowledge of the relevant fields, alongside a wide range of scholarly articles and other background material.
Under Nobel Foundation statutes, nominations, along with related investigations and opinions, cannot be disclosed for 50 years. The Committee does not release the names of nominees to the media or to the candidates themselves. Where candidate names surface in public reporting, the Committee said these typically originate from individuals claiming to have made a nomination, or are speculative.
The 2026 Nobel Peace Prize laureate or laureates will be announced on Friday, 9 October, with the award ceremony to be held on 10 December in Oslo, Norway.
