2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado joins a long and coveted list of 112 individuals and 31 organisations who’ve received the award since 1901.
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Nobel Peace Prize 2025 | The Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado for her work in promoting democratic rights for the people of the South American country and her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy. She is the founder of Súmate, an organisation devoted to democratic development. (Image: Reuters)
Her victory also brings the plight of Venezuelans to light, as many of them live in poverty with little democratic rights. The committee called Machado “a unifying figure” in a deeply divided country under an authoritarian regime.
Was Donald Trump nominated? | The announcement is a disappointment for US President Donald Trump, who has been demanding that he be awarded the peace prize. The White House and the president himself argued that he was worthy of the award, claiming he had resolved multiple wars in the world. However, it will take another 50 years for us to know if Trump was in the running at all. The Nobel Committee makes nominations for all award categories public strictly within a 50-year timeframe. (Image: Reuters)
Nobel Peace Prize history | Since its inception in 1901, the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded 106 times, recognizing 143 laureates—112 individuals and 31 organizations. Among them, 20 have been women. The youngest laureate remains Malala Yousafzai, who received the honor in 2014 at just 17 years old, while Joseph Rotblat, awarded in 1995 at the age of 86, is among the oldest recipients. (Image: Reuters)
Peace Prize controversy | In 2009, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to former US president Barack Obama for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” Many criticised the decision, stating Obama had yet to achieve work worthy of the award at the time. He was nine months into his presidential work. Years later, a former committee secretary told the BBC that the award “failed to achieve” its goal of strengthening Obama.
(Edited by : Tenzin Norzom)
