The Nobel Peace Prize laureate receives two central symbols of the award: a gold medal and a diploma, while the prize money is handled separately. The distinction between the physical items and the official record is important for understanding how the award endures beyond material possession.
Regardless of what later happens to the medal, the diploma, or the prize money, the original laureate remains the person recorded in history as the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Even if a medal or diploma ends up in someone else’s hands, that transfer does not change who was awarded the prize.
A laureate cannot share the prize with others or transfer it once the Nobel Peace Prize has been announced, and the decision to award the prize is final and irrevocable. This permanence means the Committee’s determination stands for all time and cannot be rescinded.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee does not see its role as offering ongoing commentary on laureates or the political activities they pursue after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. The prize is granted on the basis of the laureate’s contributions as they stood at the moment the Committee made its decision, and the Committee does not take responsibility for subsequent statements or actions by laureates.
There are no restrictions in the statutes of the Nobel Foundation on what a laureate may do with the medal, the diploma, or the prize money. A laureate is free to keep, give away, sell, or donate these items, and those personal choices are the laureate’s own responsibility.
Many Nobel medals are on public display in museums around the world, and several laureates have chosen to give away or sell their medals. For readers in Pakistan, this clarification underlines that ownership of the physical objects does not alter the historical record of who received the Nobel Peace Prize.
