Nobel Prize 2026: Announcement Dates, Times and Winners

The 2026 announcements run from Monday, October 5 to Monday, October 12, one category at a time, and every one is broadcast live on the Nobel Prize's own channels. Physiology or Medicine opens the week and the economics prize closes it. Sources: Nobel Foundation, Nobel Peace Center.

Physiology or Medicine: Monday, October 5, 11:30 CEST at the earliest. Physics: Tuesday, October 6, 11:45 CEST at the earliest. Chemistry: Wednesday, October 7, 11:45 CEST at the earliest. Literature: Thursday, October 8, 13:00 CEST at the earliest. Peace: Friday, October 9, 11:00 CEST. Economic Sciences: Monday, October 12, 11:45 CEST at the earliest. Only the Peace Prize time is fixed; the others are the earliest possible moment, because the deliberation runs until the committee is done. Sources: Nobel Foundation, Nobel Peace Center.

Friday, October 9, 2026 at 11:00 CEST, from the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo. It is the only one of the six announced outside Sweden, and the only one with a time that does not carry an "at the earliest" caveat. Sources: Nobel Peace Center, Nobel Foundation.

12 million Swedish kronor per prize, about 1.21 million dollars. That is one million kronor more than in 2025, an increase the Nobel Foundation tied to the 125th anniversary of the first prizes. Foundation director Hanna Stjarne framed it as an anniversary gesture. If a prize is shared, the laureates split that sum. Sources: Nobel Foundation, AFP.

Medicine: Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi. Physics: John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis. Chemistry: Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi. Literature: Laszlo Krasznahorkai of Hungary. Peace: Maria Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader. Economic Sciences: Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt. Fourteen laureates in all. Sources: NobelPrize.org, TIME, World Economic Forum.

Live on nobelprize.org and the Nobel Prize's official digital channels, free and without registration. Each announcement is a short press conference in which the relevant academy reads the citation, usually in Swedish then English, and takes questions. The Peace Prize stream comes from Oslo. Source: Nobel Foundation.

Four separate bodies, which is why the announcements are spread over a week. The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet decides Medicine. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences decides Physics, Chemistry and the economics prize. The Swedish Academy decides Literature. The Norwegian Nobel Committee, appointed by Norway's parliament, decides Peace. Source: Nobel Foundation.

Thursday, December 10, 2026, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death. Five prizes are handed over at the Stockholm Concert Hall by the King of Sweden, followed by the banquet at the City Hall. The Peace Prize is presented the same day at Oslo City Hall. Source: Nobel Foundation.

Six. Five come from Alfred Nobel's 1895 will, physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace, and the sixth is the economics prize added in 1968. Not every prize is awarded every year: a prize can be withheld if no candidate meets the standard, and that has happened dozens of times, mostly in wartime. Source: Nobel Foundation.

Not in the strict sense. Its formal name is the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, funded by Sweden's central bank and first awarded in 1969. It is not named in Nobel's will. It is administered by the Nobel Foundation, announced in the same week, carries the same sum and is presented at the same ceremony, which is why almost everyone calls it a Nobel anyway. Source: Nobel Foundation.

No, not since 1974, when the statutes were changed. The one exception the rules allow is a laureate who dies between the October announcement and the December ceremony, which has happened. Before 1974 posthumous awards were possible and were made twice. Source: Nobel Foundation.

Three at most, and a prize can go to at most two different pieces of work. That cap is a recurring source of argument in physics and medicine, where modern discoveries often come out of collaborations of dozens or hundreds of researchers. The Peace Prize is the exception that can go to an organisation rather than to individuals. Source: Nobel Foundation.

Nobody knows, and that is by design. The Norwegian Nobel Committee publishes only the number of valid nominations, never the names, and the nomination archive stays sealed for 50 years. Anyone claiming to know the 2026 shortlist is either a nominator talking about their own submission, which is allowed, or guessing. Sources: Nobel Peace Center, Nobel Foundation.

Only qualified nominators invited by the awarding body: past laureates, members of the relevant academies, professors in the field, and for the Peace Prize also members of national parliaments and governments, and certain international judges. You cannot nominate yourself, and a nomination is not an endorsement by the committee. Source: Nobel Foundation.