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Eligible people and institutions nominate candidates; a Nobel Committee for each prize reviews them and consults experts; then the prize’s designated awarding institution makes the final decision. The Nobel Foundation administers the shared framework, but it does not choose the laureates. The process is broadly similar across categories, though committees’ procedures differ.
How the Nobel Prize selection process works
- Nominations begin. Starting in September, eligible nominators are invited to put forward candidates. Who may nominate depends on the prize. Self-nominations are not accepted. The Nobel Foundation statutes describe nominations for a given year as those submitted in the preceding 12 months up to 1 February, while the Nobel Prize overview and 2025 Nobel Week media information use 31 January. The sources do not explain the difference, so there is no single harmonized date to apply across those descriptions. Nobel Prize nomination and selection overview; Nobel Foundation statutes; Nobel Week Stockholm 2025 media information.
- Committees check and assess nominations. The relevant committee verifies that nominations are valid and submitted by eligible nominators. A nomination applies only to that year; a candidate needs a new nomination to be considered in a later year. Committees then narrow the field, assess candidates in depth, and seek advice from domestic and foreign experts. The details vary by prize.
- The committee recommends candidates. After its review, the committee prepares a report and recommends a candidate or candidates to the prize-awarding institution.
- The awarding institution decides. The responsible institution makes the final choice; the committee’s recommendation is not itself the final award decision. Laureates are notified before the public announcement.
- The prizes are presented. The Nobel prizes are presented on 10 December, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death.
The committee review and decision roles are described in the Nobel Foundation Annual Review 2024.
Which institution chooses each Nobel laureate?
| Prize category | Final awarding institution |
|---|---|
| Physics | Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences |
| Chemistry | Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences |
| Physiology or Medicine | Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet |
| Literature | Swedish Academy |
| Peace | Norwegian Nobel Committee |
| Economic Sciences | Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences |
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has five members appointed by the Norwegian Storting. The Economic Sciences award is formally the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. Sweden’s central bank established it in 1968; it is awarded at the same ceremony as the Nobel prizes but was not one of the five prizes specified in Alfred Nobel’s will. The Nobel Foundation statutes describe the award bodies and committee framework. Nobel Foundation statutes.
The institutions are not interchangeable committees with identical membership or procedures. For example, the Nobel Foundation’s 2024 Annual Review reports that the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has 50 members, the Swedish Academy has 18 members, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has about 450 Swedish and about 175 foreign members. Those figures describe the named institutions, not the number of people who decide every prize through an identical process.
#1 Best Overall
- Author: Ishiguro, Kazuo.
- Publisher: Vintage International
- Pages: 245
- Publication Date: 1990-09-12
- Edition: First Edition
What the rules mean for nominees and laureates
- Current nominations are confidential. Nominee identities and information about nominations and deliberations are restricted for 50 years under the Nobel Foundation statutes. A current-year nominee list therefore cannot be reliably established from public information.
- A candidate may need to be nominated again. A nomination is valid only for the year in which it is submitted.
- A prize can be shared, but only within limits. A prize may be divided equally between two works. If a rewarded work was produced by two or three people, they may receive the prize jointly; no more than three people can share a prize.
- A prize can be withheld. If no work under consideration meets the required standard, the prize may not be awarded.
These provisions are set out in the Nobel Foundation statutes and summarized in the official nomination overview.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the process does—and does not—tell the public
The public can know which institution awards each prize and the broad stages used to select laureates. It cannot use the current nomination process to verify who has been nominated: the information is confidential for 50 years. Nor should the general sequence be read as proof that every committee uses precisely the same assessment steps. The shared outline is nomination, committee review and expert consultation, recommendation, and a final institutional decision.
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