In December, it’s time for one of the most special nights of the year in Oslo – the night the Nobel Peace Prize is handed out.
Every year in Oslo Rådhus (the City Hall of Oslo), the prize ceremony takes place on December 10th. It’s one of the five Nobel Prizes that Alfred Nobel created before his death, and that has been handed out since 1901. This very price is the only one that’s handed out in Oslo; the other ones are handed out in Stockholm.
The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to those who 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”. The prize is handed out by the Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, and the present is also King Harald V of Norway. How it came that Oslo was chosen as the prize for the Nobel Peace Prize? No one really knows. During Alfred Nobel’s years of life, Sweden was in union with Norway. He wanted Stortinget (an institution that worked with international peace) to choose the winner on a yearly basis. Maybe he was just confident that they would do the best job. We will never know!
