December 3, 2005

The Nobel Peace Prize

I had written before (here and here) about people being nominated for the Nobel Prize and it is time to revisit this. Two prominent cases come to mind. The first is from the Washington Post:
Oprah Gives Peace -- and Letterman -- a Chance
Nobel Peace Prize contender-if-her-fans-have-anything-to-say-about-it Oprah Winfrey last night made her first appearance on David Letterman's late-night show in 16 years to claim there was never any truth to the report that she had a problem with him.
And some more:
But now, at least on her fans' Web sites, she's campaigning for the Nobel Peace Prize...
Let's visit the nominations page for the Nobel Peace Prize:
The Nominators – Peace
Right to submit proposals for the Nobel Peace Prize, based on the principle of competence and universality, shall by statute be enjoyed by:
  1. Members of national assemblies and governments of states;
  2. Members of international courts;
  3. University rectors; professors of social sciences, history, philosophy, law and theology; directors of peace research institutes and foreign policy institutes;
  4. Persons who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize;
  5. Board members of organizations who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize;
  6. Active and former members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee; (proposals by members of the Committee to be submitted no later than at the first meeting of the Committee after February 1) and
  7. Former advisers appointed by the Norwegian Nobel Institute.
I do not see a line item for "Fans of a Television Show Personality" The second case involves convicted murderer "Tookie" Williams From the Save Tookie web page (scroll down a bit).
He has been nominated 5 times for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in helping to prevent gang violence.

He has been nominated four times for the Nobel Literature Prize for his children's books that warn young people about the pitfalls of joining a gang and exposes them to alternatives.
From the list above, there are several thousand people who could nominate Mr. Williams but confirmation of this will remain impossible for the next fifty years. From the Nomination Database for the Nobel Peace Prize web site:
Information about the nominations, investigations, and opinions concerning the award is kept secret for fifty years.
'Nuff said... Posted by DaveH at December 3, 2005 11:36 AM