María Corina Machado from Venezuela has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2025.
Maria Corina Machado was announced the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize by the Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday. Considered one of the most anticipated and unpredictable honours, the committee focuses on lasting peace, international cooperation, and the work of institutions that promote these goals.
The announcement was made in Oslo, Norway, reflecting the values of Alfred Nobel, the 19th-century Swedish industrialist who founded the prize.
This year’s Nobel winners so far
László Krasznahorkai won the Nobel Prize in Literature this year. The Hungarian author was recognised “for his compelling and visionary oeuvre that, in the midst of apocalyptic terror, reaffirms the power of art”.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded for discoveries that explain how the immune system attacks hostile infections, but not the body’s own cells. The prize is shared by Japan’s Shimon Sakaguchi and US researchers Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell.
Their work is being used to develop new treatments for autoimmune diseases and cancer.
For the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar Yaghi’s work on the development of metal-organic frameworks stood out. The three scientists’ work could tackle some of the biggest problems facing our planet, including capturing carbon dioxide to help tackle climate change and reducing plastic pollution using chemistry.
And John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit, paving the way for the development of the next generation of digital technologies.
Nobel Peace Prize Nominations
A total of 338 individuals and organisations were nominated for the 2025 Peace Prize, Among them were Sudan’s Emergency Response Rooms, a network of volunteers helping civilians during war and famine; Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny; and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, which monitors elections.
Possible choices include UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), or international courts such as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Organisations defending press freedom, such as the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) or Reporters Without Borders (RSF), are also being discussed as potential winners.
Last year’s prize went to Nihon Hidankyo, an organisation of survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings that campaigns against nuclear weapons.
The Nobel Peace Prize includes a diploma, a gold medal, and a $1.2 million cash award.
The economics prize, to be announced on Monday, will conclude the 2025 Nobel season, which has already seen awards for medicine, physics, chemistry, literature, and peace.