Due to the pandemic, this year’s Nobel Prizes will be sent by post

Nobel Peace PrizePhoto: Berit Roald / NTB

The corona outbreak has restricted travel and gatherings. That’s why this year’s Nobel Celebration will go digital, while medals and diplomas will be sent by diplomatic mail.

The corona pandemic has led to the Nobel Institute in Norway and the Nobel Foundation in Sweden having to use their imagination to decide how this year’s award ceremony should be handed out. 

Infection control and travel restrictions have led to the ceremony being held digitally, Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) reports.

For the first time in history, the Nobel Peace Prize will not be awarded in Norway. 

The recipient, the World Food Program, will receive the award in Rome, where the UN organization is headquartered. 

Director of the Nobel Institute Olav Njølstad noted that the medal and diploma were sent from Oslo to the Norwegian Embassy in Rome. 

The other Nobel Prizes, which are normally awarded in Sweden’s capital Stockholm, will also be sent by diplomatic courier. 

Mandatory lecture

The prizes have been awarded to eleven prize winners in three different countries – Germany, Great Britain, and the USA.

“The ambassador or consul will give a speech, and then the prize winner will pick up the medal and diploma on a table,” leader Lars Heikensten of the Nobel Foundation said.

One of the requirements for the winners of the Nobel Prize is that they must give a lecture within six months after the award ceremony. 

After this year’s award ceremony, the lectures will take place digitally.

The Norwegian Nobel Institute, on the other hand, aims for the recipient of the Peace Prize to give their lecture in Oslo before the summer, as far as the infection situation allows for it. 

Until the lecture is held, the prize money will not be paid out.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today

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