

The five members of theNorwegian Nobel Committee award theNobel Peace Prize every year. They are appointed by theParliament of Norway and roughly represent the political makeup of that body. The committee was established in 1897, and has awarded the prize most years since 1901. Fifty-four people have sat on the committee, of which ten have been women. Thirteen have beenchair and six deputy chair. The awards in 1935 (toCarl von Ossietzky), 1973 (toHenry Kissinger) and 1994 (toYasser Arafat) caused members of the committee to withdraw due to disagreement with the committee decision.
Since 2018, the members areBerit Reiss-Andersen (chair, of theLabour Party),Henrik Syse (deputy chair, of theConservative Party),Thorbjørn Jagland (Labour Party),Anne Enger (Centre Party) andAsle Toje (Progress Party). Historically, the committee's members have represented seven political parties, including (in addition to the four parties currently represented) theLiberal Party, theSocialist Left Party and theChristian People's Party. Six people have sat as the committee's secretary, who is also director of theNorwegian Nobel Institute. Since 2025, this has beenKristian Berg Harpviken.
The five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee was established on 5 August 1897, after the Parliament of Norway accepted the duty to award the Nobel Peace Prize as stated in the will ofAlfred Nobel.[1] The first prize was awarded in 1901.[2] The Committee is assisted by a secretariat that is part of theNorwegian Nobel Institute.[3] In 1901, the committee was renamed the Nobel Committee of the Parliament of Norway, but this was reverted in 1977.[1] In 1948, the election system was changed to make the committee more proportional to the representation in parliament.[4] From then until 1967, the Labour Party, who held a majority in parliament, had three representatives in the committee.[2]
It is no longer possible for active parliamentarians to sit on the committee, except for the last half year of parliamentary representation, if they have stated that they will not run for re-election. This allowed Jagland and Valle to sit on the committee in 2009, while they were still elected. The appointment is made by parliament after nominations by the parties who are to be represented in the committee.
Since 2009, the Labour Party had two seats, while the three next-largest parties, the Progress Party, the Conservative Party and the Centre Party, each have one representative. The remaining parties in parliament are not represented.[5]




The committee has had 59 different members. Fifteen people have been chair and nine deputy chair. Twelve women have sat on the committee, starting withAase Lionæs in 1949. From 2009 to 2011, four of the board's five members were women.Christian Lous Lange is the only person to have both sat on the committee and been its secretary, and the only peace laureate to have sat on the committee.Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson was, however, awarded theNobel Prize in Literature. The longest-serving members areHans Jacob Horst and Aase Lionæs, who both served for 30 years. The longest-sitting chair isGunnar Jahn, who sat for 26 years as chair and 29 years on the committee. The longest period without any changes to the committee was the 15 years from 1949 to 1963. The shortest-sitting member wasEsther Kostøl, who sat for less than a year in 1997.[2][6]
Seven political parties have been represented in the committee. The first committee consisted exclusively of members of theLiberal Party. The party was represented on all committees until 1973, after which it has not had a seat. In 1907,Francis Hagerup became the first representative from the Conservative Party, and this party has been represented on the board since. The Labour Party has been represented on the board since 1919, whenHalvdan Koht became a member. TheAgrarian Party (since named the Centre Party) was first represented on the board byBirger Braadland in 1938. TheChristian Democratic Party was first represented byErling Wikborg in 1965, the Socialist Left Party byHanna Kvanmo in 1991 and the Progress Party by Inger-Marie Ytterhorn in 2000.[2]
Three awards have resulted in members withdrawing from the committee. Following the 1935 award to the German pacifistCarl von Ossietzky,Johan Ludwig Mowinckel andHalvdan Koht withdrew. Koht was later re-appointed to the committee.[2] Following the 1973 award toLê Đức Thọ andHenry Kissinger,Einar Hovdhaugen andHelge Rognlien withdrew. Following the 1994 award toYasser Arafat,Shimon Peres andYitzhak Rabin,Kåre Kristiansen withdrew.[2][8][9]
Thorbjørn Jagland sat on the committee from 2009 to 2020 and was its chair in 2009–2015. In March 2015, Jagland was demoted as a chairman, the first such move since the establishment of the Committee, but remained member. There was no official reason given for demotion, but a lot of criticism was aimed at him for awarding the Prize toBarack Obama, to the EU, and toLiu Xiaobo.[10][11]
| Current members inbold |
The committee's secretary is the sitting director of theNorwegian Nobel Institute.[21] Since 2025, the secretary has beenKristian Berg Harpviken (born 1961), sociologist, researcher, and former director of thePeace Research Institute Oslo.
| Secretary | Start | End | Tenure (years) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christian Lous Lange | 1901 | 1909 | 9 |
| Ragnvald Moe | 1910 | 1945 | 36 |
| August Schou | 1946 | 1973 | 18 |
| Tim Greve | 1974 | 1977 | 4 |
| Jakob Sverdrup | 1978 | 1989 | 12 |
| Geir Lundestad | 1990 | 2014 | 25 |
| Olav Njølstad | 2015 | 2025 | 10 |
| Kristian Berg Harpviken | 2025 | present | 0 |