Nobel Prize in Literature | How does it work?
Has anyone ever been wondering about how the Nobel Prize works?
In general, people already know what a Nobel Prize is, which kind of person deserves to be awarded a Nobel prize, and how difficult it is to get since the Nobel prizes’ fame are extraordinary itself. Hence, the majority of people do not acknowledge what the Nobel Prize is in detail — can’t figure out how to participate as an applicant — the process of selecting the final Nobel winner in different fields.
What is Nobel Prize?
The Nobel Prize was created by Alfred Nobel (1833–96), a Swedish chemist who invented dynamite. Before he died, he wrote in his will to leave his entire large fortune to invest in funding prizes for each intellectual person who can prove his or her nobility and greater achievements every year.
According to Alfred Nobel’s will, Five major prizes were decided at first such as Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature, and Peace issues — later Economics was added in 1969. In actuality, the sum of the Nobel Prizes is more than its six separate fields. The Laureates of the Nobel Prize are critically selected by the Swedish Academy, but the ceremony is held in Stockholm Concert Hall on Nobel Day which is, December 10th by the king of Swedish. Five years later after Alfred Nobel died, the first Nobel Prize was awarded in 1901. An honored Laureate is awarded by the King of Swedish the Nobel Prize medal which is attached with a Diploma that displays the name of the laureate along with the certificate of the amount of prize money (Feldman, 2000).
Starting from 1901 to the present 2021, the Nobel Prizes are awarded 630 times to more than 900 individuals and 25 organizations according to The Organization of The Nobel Prize. Among five major prizes and Science economics, the field of Peace and Literature draws the most attention to the public of society.
Nobel Prize in Literature
“…the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction…”-Alfred Nobel
History and Background
According to the will of Alfred Nobel, the award was produced for a person in the field of Literature out of five major prizes to appreciate his or her remarkable work in an honorable way. The laureate being selected by the Academy in Stockholm was specified by the incorporation of the Nobel Foundation, Swedish Academy. The statutes decide literature prizes based o not only belle letters — various categories of writing but also other writings which, by their own virtue of form and style, possess literacy value (Levinovitz & Ringertz, 2001). As the Nobel Prize Organization mentioned, the Nobel Prize was awarded 113 times to 117 Laureates in the field of Literature starting from 1901 to 2020.
Among these 117 Laureates in the Literatures field, Bob Dylan, an American singer, and songwriter was being awarded the Nobel Prize in an exception.
Require Proficiency
As a candidate, an individual must be appropriate with the entitled positions — which is shown below — to be a qualified nominee by the approval of the Swedish Academy.
- An individual who would like to be included must be a member of an Academy such as a member of academies, a literary writer, a poet, a university professor in the field of literature.
- There would be a chance for the former Nobel laureates in literature, and the presidents of the organizations’ writers who are representative of each of the production of their country’s literature.
- The works must be presented in the preceding year at the same time — restricted by the Nobel-Awarding Institution, but the older works would be considered if the significance of were not presented apparently.
- The ones who have not received invitations — but are qualified enough to nominate are also welcomed to participate in the Nobel Prize.
- Most Importantly, no one should not submit the form or the work of herself or himself.
Introduction to the Nominators
As the Organization of the Nobel Prize describes, the board members from the Nobel Committee of the Swedish Academy are responsible for the selection of candidates in the field of Literature. Those statutes are in charge of making decisions for qualified nominators.
There are five members and one co-operate member of the Nobel Committee for Literature out of the eighteen members in the Swedish Academy. They all master thirteen languages, and they never once hesitate to call translators or experts when the situation comes to reading or reviewing in unknown languages.
The nominators are all elected as members of the Swedish Academy in 2018–2019, and the list of the members is shown below.
Let’s meet the Nominators of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2021.
Anders Olsson (Chairman)
Apparently, he is a chairman of the Nobel Committee of the Academy. Anders Olsson who is a professor in Literature at Stockholm University is a Swedish writer and a literary critic and a member of the Swedish Academy at the same time. The writer, Lars Forssell who died in 2007, elected him as a member of the Swedish Academy in February of 2008.
Per Wästberg, a Swedish writer, holds a degree in literature from the University of Uppsala and is also an editor-in-chief of Dagens Nyheter (1976–1982) which is Sweden’s largest daily newspaper. Since 1997, he became a member of the Swedish Academy.
Jesper Svenbro, one of the members of the Swedish Academy, is a poet and classical philologist.
Ellen Mattson was elected by the Swedish Academy as a new member of the Academy in December of 2019. She is a Swedish writer who won many literary prizes including the Literature Prize of Svenska Dagbladet in 1998.
Anne Sward, one of the female members of the Swedish Academy, is a Swedish writer. Like her debut, she published Polarsommar (Arctic Summer) which is translated into three languages; German, Dutch and Polish.
Co-opted member
Mats Malm is a literary writer and translator of Swedish and a professor of Literary Science at Gothenburg University at the same time. In 2018, he was elected as a member of the Swedish Academy and the new Permanent Secretary and also the Speaker of the Academy of Swedish in 2019.
The Process of Submission and Nominations
How can an individual apply the submission? How does the nomination work to decide the final laureate?
Every year, thousands of the members of Academies such as the professors of universities, literary writers, poets, previous Laureates of the Nobel Prize, and members of parliamentary assemblies and others, are asked to submit candidates for the Nobel Prizes for the coming year. The Nobel Committee of Nobel Prize Awarding Institutions handles the nominations.
The Process of Submission, Nominations, and the final process which is involved choosing in Laureates in the field of Literature are explained below. According to the Organization of the Nobel Prize,
Invitation Letters
In September, The Nobel Committee sends out forms of nominations attached with the formal letters of Invitation to hundreds of individuals and organizations which have qualifications to nominate for the Nobel Prize in Literature Field.
Deadline for Submission
All of the forms of individuals must be reached to the Nobel Committee before the deadline, 31st January of the following year. Then the statutes of the Nobel Committee will inspect the nominees and analysis their works. After investigation, they submit a list of nominations for approval by the Academy.
Preliminary candidates
Fifteen to twenty nominees are being selected or considered as preliminary candidates by the approval of the Swedish Academy in April.
Final Candidates
In May, The Nobel Committee narrow down the preliminary nominations list to five priority candidates to decide the final Laureates by the Swedish Academy.
The Final Process
Reading of Productions
June-August- While the members of the Nobel Committee also prepare individual reports, the Swedish Academy scan and assess the work of the final candidates.
Conferences of the members of the Academy
In September. as soon as finishing with analysis, the Academy holds conferences between the members to discuss the contribution of each final candidate.
Final Laureate
Finally, the Final Laureate in Literature who receives more than half of the members’ votes is chosen by the Academy of Swedish. In early October, the final Laureate in the field of Literature is announced.
Awarding Ceremony
The Nobel Prize Ceremony — where the top of the top intellectual people comes to receive the award is the highlight of a year when it comes to the best awarding ceremony.
On the Nobel Day of December 10th, the ceremony is held in Stockholm Concert Hall by the King of Swedish.
Each honored Laureate in different fields is awarded by the King of Swedish the Nobel Prize medal which is attached with a Diploma that displays the name of the laureate along with the certificate of the amount of prize money.
For the ones who would like to explore more about the information of the nominations, please go and check Nomination Archive for more information. Now, all of the nominations are collected in the one database even though it is yet completed since there is the restriction that the information of the nomination or names of the nominees cannot be revealed until 50 years later.
References
All Nobel Prizes. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Mon. 26 Jul 2021. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/lists/all-nobel-prizes>
All Nobel Prizes in Literature. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Mon. 26 Jul 2021. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/lists/all-nobel-prizes-in-literature>
Feldman, B. (2000). The Nobel Prize. Google Books. <https://books.google.com.mm/books?hl=en&lr=&id=xnckeeTICn0C&oi=fnd&pg=PP13&dq=How+does+the+nobel+prize+work%3F&ots=O6JSTKlUef&sig=u679fg2QjCgP2OOO2s42xA_akj8&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false>
Full text of Alfred Nobel’s will. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Tue. 27 Jul 2021. <https://www.nobelprize.org/alfred-nobel/full-text-of-alfred-nobels-will-2/>
Levinovitz, A. W., & Ringertz, N. (2001). The Nobel Prize. Google Books. <https://books.google.com.mm/books?hl=en&lr=&id=QMSg5mRJiukC&oi=fnd&pg=PA137&dq=the+nobel+prize+in+literature&ots=pt2eLF9JCJ&sig=PgoF1H4Cxah4li1uTbFnY5r5pKI&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=the%20nobel%20prize%20in%20literature&f=false>
Nomination Archive. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Fri. 9 Jul 2021. <https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/>
Nomination and selection of Literature Laureates. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Tue. 27 Jul 2021. <https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/literature/>
Press release. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Tue. 27 Jul 2021. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/2016/press-release/>
The Nobel Committee for Literature. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Tue. 27 Jul 2021. <https://www.nobelprize.org/about/the-nobel-committee-for-literature/>
The Swedish Academy. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Tue. 27 Jul 2021. <https://www.nobelprize.org/about/the-swedish-academy/>
