Following the presentation of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize by the actual winner, Maria Corina Machado of Venezuela to US President Donald Trump, which has made the Nobel Peace Prize medal capture widespread attention, the museum for the Nobel Peace Prize has come out to highlight some essential facts about the prize.
“Once a Nobel Prize has been announced, it cannot be revoked, shared, or transferred to others. The decision is final and stands for all time”, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has said.
It is a well-known fact that the US President has been angling for the Nobel Peace Prize and was very upset when he was bypassed last year. Eventually, his friend and FIFA President, Swiss-Italian Gianni Infantino established a special FIFA Peace Prize and Trump was the pioneer recipient in 2025.
The Nobel Committee said Ms Machado received the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.
Recall that during a visit to the White House on January 15, Ms Machado formally presented her medal to Donald Trump. After her meeting with Trump, Machado told reporters it was “excellent” and that she presented Trump with the medal as “a recognition for his unique commitment with our freedom”. The inscription in the frame containing the medal says: “Presented as a personal symbol of gratitude on behalf of the Venezuelan people, in recognition of President Trump’s principled and decisive action in pursuit of a free Venezuela.”
Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, and others have criticised the presentation and the Nobel Centre insists the prize is non-transferrable.
According to the Nobel Peace Centre, over the years, there have been several cases in which a Nobel Prize medal has changed owners, been stolen, lost, or even sold. What is important to remember is that even though a medal can change its owner, the title of a Nobel Peace Prize laureate cannot.
Since 1901 the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded 105 times, to 139 laureates: 92 men, 19 women and 28 organisations.
Regarding the Peace Prize, the will of Alfred Nobel stipulated that it was to be awarded to the person “who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses”. Over the course of time the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded in recognition of many kinds of peace work and concepts of peace.
In the earliest years of the Peace Prize – up to World War I – the prize was often awarded to pioneers of the organised peace movement. In the inter-war years, the focus shifted to active politicians who sought to promote international peace, stability and justice by means of diplomacy and international agreements, but prizes were also awarded for humanitarian work (Nansen, the League of Nations High Commissioner for Refugees).
Since World War II, the Peace Prize has principally been awarded to honour efforts in four main areas: arms control and disarmament, peace negotiation, democracy and human rights, and work aimed at creating a better organised and more peaceful world. In the 21st century the Nobel Committee has embraced efforts to limit the harm done by man-made climate change and threats to the environment as relevant to the Peace Prize.
Apart from Machado, only 19 women have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize – compared to 92 men. By 1970, the Nobel Peace Prize had almost exclusively been the preserve of highly educated white men from Europe and the United States. Until then, only three women had won the peace prize: Austrian Bertha von Suttner in 1905 and the two Americans Jane Addams (1931) and Emily Greene Balch (1946).
During the 1970s, three women were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize: Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan shared the peace prize in 1976, and Mother Teresa was awarded the prize in 1979. Since 1990, thirteen more women have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. They include Narges Mohammadi (2023); Maria Ressa (2021); Nadia Murad (2018); Malala Yousafzai (2014); Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (2011); Leymah Gbowee (2011); Tawakkol Karman (2011); Wangari Muta Maathai (2004); and Shirin Ebadi (2003). Others are Jody Williams (1997); Rigoberta Menchú Tum (1992); Aung San Suu Kyi (1991); Alva Myrdal (1982); Mother Teresa (1979); Betty Williams (1976); Mairead Corrigan (1976); Emily Greene Balch (1946); Jane Addams (1931); and Bertha von Suttner.
CREDIT: nobelpeaceprize.org
