Nobel prize ceremonies to be held online

The Nobels are traditionally presented on December 10, the anniversary of the 1896 death of prize founder Alfred Nobel, a Swedish scientist and philanthropist.

Oslo: Forget lavish banquets and glittering ceremonies attended by royals wearing tiaras: the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize will be presented to the World Food Programme (WFP) in more austere fashion online on Thursday because of Covid-19.

“It’s a shame that the laureate misses out on the usual magic but there’s nothing we can do about that,” said director of the Nobel Institute, Olav Njolstad. The Covid-19 pandemic has forced Nobel officials to scale back the traditional festivities to a bare minimum, both in Oslo where the Peace Prize is announced and presented, and in Stockholm, which is home to the prizes for medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and economics.

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WFP executive director David Beasley will be presented the Nobel gold medal and diploma at the organisation’s Rome headquarters in a ceremony broadcast online at 1 pm (1200 GMT).
The WFP, founded in 1961, was honoured with the prestigious award for its efforts “to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict”.

The Nobels are traditionally presented on December 10, the anniversary of the 1896 death of prize founder Alfred Nobel, a Swedish scientist and philanthropist.The Oslo celebration is known for its lush floral arrangements at City Hall, musical interludes, special guests from Hollywood and royalty, and a highly anticipated Nobel acceptance speech, all followed by a fancy banquet.

Only Reiss-Andersen as the head of the five-member Nobel committee will take part, and she will be online from inside the walls of the Nobel Institute in Oslo.The last time the Peace Prize ceremony was scrapped was in 1976, when the award was “reserved” until the following year owing to a lack of suitable candidates.

“It’s very possible that, paradoxically, more people than usual will watch the prize ceremony since we’ve gone to so much effort to be present online,” he said.