The Nobel Nomination & Confirmation Process
The Nobel process of nomination and selection starts in September when invitation letters are sent out to qualified nominators. By February 1 the nominations are due, and anyone can be nominated for any reason, and about 200 people are nominated. From February to October the Nobel committee holds a series of meetings to narrow down the choices, and according to CNN this year they voted on Monday October 5, 258 days into Barack Obama's presidency.
I bring this up now because I'm already seeing some spin that Barack Obama won the nomination 12 days into his term. This is false. The deadline for his nomination was 12 days into his term (he may have been nominated any time after September) but he was not selected until this Monday.
And I'm not even sure why the selection is an important milestone. Anyone can be nominated. For example some may recall that Rush Limbaugh was nominated in 2007, which is mostly noteworthy mostly because the douchebags who nominated him did not follow protocol. Information about the nominations, investigations, and opinions concerning the award are supposed to be kept secret for fifty years.
(I got the "October 5" date from Anderson Cooper on CNN this evening. If anyone can find a hard reference I'd appreciate it.)
See also.
I bring this up now because I'm already seeing some spin that Barack Obama won the nomination 12 days into his term. This is false. The deadline for his nomination was 12 days into his term (he may have been nominated any time after September) but he was not selected until this Monday.
And I'm not even sure why the selection is an important milestone. Anyone can be nominated. For example some may recall that Rush Limbaugh was nominated in 2007, which is mostly noteworthy mostly because the douchebags who nominated him did not follow protocol. Information about the nominations, investigations, and opinions concerning the award are supposed to be kept secret for fifty years.
(I got the "October 5" date from Anderson Cooper on CNN this evening. If anyone can find a hard reference I'd appreciate it.)
See also.