Nobel Prize winners to be announced from 4-11 October in a mix of online and offline events

While the world is opening up post-pandemic, it is yet to return to normalcy as we know it. For the second year in a row, the Nobel Prize winner's announcement and award ceremony will be conducted online with the awardees being felicitated in their own home countries.The 2021 Nobel Prize announcement is scheduled to be held by the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo from 4 and 11 October.The prize-awarding institutions will conduct this year’s Nobel festivities in Stockholm from 6 to 12 December. The laureates will be honoured in a mix of digital and physical events.[caption id="attachment_7463421" align="alignnone" width="1280"]

The Nobel Peace Prize. image credit: ProtoplasmaKid / Wikimedia Commons[/caption]Usually, the laureates are treated to lavish ceremonies that take place in both of the Scandinavian capitals on 10 December, the death anniversary of the founder Alfred Nobel. They join the Swedish royal family and some 1,300 guests for a banquet at the City Hall after the award ceremony.Like last year, this years ceremony will need some adjustments as well. The foundation said the 2021 ceremonies would be "a mixture of digital and physical events", similar to last year."I think everybody would like the COVID-19 pandemic to be over, but we are not there yet," said Vidar Helgesen of the Nobel Foundation."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."

The event schedule

PHYSIOLOGY OR MEDICINE – Monday 4 OctoberPHYSICS – Tuesday 5 OctoberCHEMISTRY – Wednesday 6 OctoberLITERATURE – Thursday 7 OctoberPEACE – Friday 8 OctoberECONOMIC SCIENCES – Monday 11 OctoberThe Nobel Prize winners in science and literature will receive their awards in their home countries rather than Sweden. However, the Nobel Foundation said a decision on the Peace Prize, which is usually awarded in Norway, had not been made yet.The Nobel Committee "is still keeping open the possibility of welcoming the year's Nobel Peace Prize laureate(s) to Oslo," it said.The bookmakers believe the World Health Organization (WHO) could be a likely winner of this year's Peace Prize.