Inside the Room Where the Nobel Peace Prize Is Decided

A rare conversation with one of the five people who choose the Nobel Peace Prize winner.

I’m a Nobel Peace Prize nerd.

Of the more than 1,000 Global Dispatches podcast episodes I’ve recorded over the past 13 years, one stands out in my personal top ten: my interview with a member of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee.

There are just five people — appointed by the Norwegian Parliament — who decide who wins the Nobel Peace Prize each year. When I spoke with Asle Toje back in 2019, he told me he’s taken a 50-year vow of silence about the committee’s internal deliberations. Still, he was surprisingly open about how the process works — the criteria they use, what really happens behind closed doors, and why this prize still shapes global politics after more than a century.

As Toje explained, it’s actually quite easy to be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. A wide range of people can submit nominations — basically any university professor or legislator anywhere in the world. Winning, though, is another story. The committee conducts a painstaking vetting process, whittles down a shortlist, consults outside experts, and then the five jurors deliberate and vote. Majority rules.

All the buzz this year is around Donald Trump’s open campaign for the prize. But as I wrote yesterday — and also last year! — the Committee really ought to honor the brave volunteers of Sudan’s Emergency Response Rooms.

This episode is a rare chance to hear directly from someone inside the room where every Nobel Peace Prize winner has been decided for most of the last 105 years. Our full conversation and transcript is available immediately below the fold. Feel free to take advantage of the discount link provided!