Nobel Prize ceremonies scaled down for second year due to pandemic

The Nobel Prize ceremonies will be dialed down for the second straight year amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Nobel Foundation said Thursday. 

This year’s winners of the awards in chemistry, literature, physics, medicine and economics, as well as the Nobel Peace Prize, are expected to be announced between Oct. 4 and Oct. 11. The honors are delivered by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institutet, the Swedish Academy and the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

“It is now also clear that this year’s Nobel festivities in December — when the laureates are honored in Stockholm and Oslo — will be a mixture of digital and physical events,” the Nobel Foundation said in a statement, according to The Associated Press.

Winners will receive the awards — diplomas, medals and cash prizes — in their home countries, and the presentation events could be blended with an award ceremony at Stockholm City Hall on Dec. 10. The Peace Prize is given out in Oslo at founder Albert Nobel’s request.

The committee plans to announce the formal schedule of activities next month, the AP noted. There was no formal banquet last year. 

“I think everybody would like the COVID-19 pandemic to be over, but we are not there yet,” Nobel Foundation Executive Director Vidar Helgesen said in a statement.

“Uncertainty about the course of the pandemic and international travel possibilities is the reason why the 2021 laureates will receive their medals and diplomas in their home countries,” Helgesen continued, noting that the foundation is “looking forward to reaching even more people around the world by using new formats and digital solutions.”