Sökandet av kandidater för Nobels fredspris igång

Nobels fredspris är ett av de fem Nobelprisen, inrättade genom Alfred Nobels testamente. Priset delas ut årligen av den norska Nobelkommittén i Oslo. Alfred Nobels testamente säger att priset skall tilldelas dem som "hafva gjort menskligheten den största nytta" och att en femtedel tilldelas "den som har verkat mest eller best för folkens förbrödrande och afskaffande eller minskning af stående arméer samt bildande och spridande af fredskongresser". Dessutom gällde dessa förutsättningar vad som gjorts under det gångna året. Detta frångicks dock av praktiska skäl av Nobelkommittén redan från början.

The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel, Swedish inventor and industrialist, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiology or Medicine, and Literature. Since March 1901, it has been awarded annually (with some exceptions) 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 Norwegian Nobel Committee, a five-member body nominated by the Norwegian Parliament, chooses the laureate in accordance with Alfred Nobel's intention. The Committee invites qualified individuals to submit nominations for the Prize each year. Nomination of oneself is not permitted. There have been years when the prize was not given out despite the annual invitations and selections because of the start of World War I (1914, 1915, 1916, and 1918), World War II (1939–1943), and some specific circumstances (1923, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1955, 1956, 1966, 1967, and 1972). Due to the killing of Mahatma Gandhi, the Peace Prize was also not awarded in 1948 since, in the Committee's words, "there was no acceptable live contender." During to the committee's deliberations there were years when none of the nominees in the year they are listed met the criteria in Nobel's will. Thus, the awarding of the Prize was also postponed twelve times: Elihu Root (1912), Woodrow Wilson (1919), Austen Chamberlain (1925), Charles G. Dawes (1925), Frank B. Kellogg (1929), Norman Angell (1933), Carl von Ossietzky (1935), International Committee of the Red Cross (1944), Albert Schweitzer (1952), Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (1954), Albert Lutuli (1960), and Linus Pauling (1962).