Peace PRIZES

Peace prizes play a pivotal role in recognising and encouraging efforts towards global harmony. The Nobel Peace Prize, perhaps the most renowned, honours individuals and organisations that have made significant contributions to peace. Its prestige highlights the importance of diplomatic efforts and humanitarian work.

Beyond the well-known Nobel Peace Prize, several other awards play a crucial role in recognising and promoting peace efforts worldwide.

The Real Nobel Peace Prize, "Lay Down Your Arms," is inspired by Alfred Nobel's will and Bertha von Suttner's advocacy for peace and disarmament. It recognizes efforts dedicated to ending conflicts and fostering global harmony through non-violent means.

The Sean MacBride Peace Prize, awarded by the International Peace Bureau, honours significant contributions to disarmament and peace advocacy. It highlights individuals and organisations dedicated to reducing armed conflict and promoting peaceful resolutions.

The Goi Peace Award, bestowed by the Goi Peace Foundation, acknowledges contributions to peace through education, science, and the arts. It recognises innovative approaches to creating a harmonious world.

The Niwano Peace Prize focuses on interfaith dialogue, celebrating those who work to bridge religious divides and foster mutual understanding. This prize underscores the importance of religious harmony in achieving global peace.

The US Peace Prize recognizes individuals and organizations making significant contributions to peace and conflict resolution. It celebrates innovative approaches and enduring efforts to foster harmony and understanding across diverse communities.

The Ramon Magsaysay Award, often regarded as Asia's Nobel Prize, honors individuals and organizations for their exceptional contributions to public service, leadership, and community development across the continent. Established in 1957, it celebrates the legacy of the former Philippine president, Ramon Magsaysay, by recognizing those who embody integrity, courage, and transformative impact.

Film prizes for peace commend filmmakers who use their craft to highlight peace-related themes, raising awareness through the powerful medium of cinema and storytelling.

These prizes, among others, underscore the diverse ways in which peace can be pursued and remind us of the collective responsibility to strive for a more peaceful world.

Author: Norbert Stute with the help of ChatGPT 4.0, Date: 22.09.25

Info on Peace PRIZES

Hot Topics

Image of Francesca Albanese the UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories.

The Real Nobel Peace Prize 2025 – Lay Down Your Arms

Founded by the late Fredrik S. Heffermehl, a Norwegian lawyer and author, who long championed a critical examination of the Nobel Peace Prize and its alignment with Alfred Nobel's original vision. Only 36 out of 134 recipients qualify according to Nobel's criteria (disarmament, demilitarisation, peace negotiations, mediation, peace journalism, and conflict resolution). Every year, Lay Down Your Arms honours a 'champion for peace'. The 2025 recipient is UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese, who has pushed for nations to implement an embargo on arms sales to Israel, to end all trade agreements, for accountability for their war crimes, and finally complete Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories.

The Real Nobel Peace Prize 2025 – Lay Down Your Arms

Black and white image of Venezuelan politician María Corina Machado. She looks seriously off to one side standing in a crowd of people.

María Corina Machado – Nobel Peace Prize 2025

Machado, a prominent and controversial Venezuelan politician, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October 2025 "for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy." Critics argue that while many of Machado's actions may be laudable, we cannot ignore the fact that her politics regarding U.S. sanctions have brought much suffering to the citizens of Venezuela. The Norwegian Nobel Committee once again seems to have awarded a politically motivated prize. Far too often, Nobel Peace Prize laureates are merely advocates of Western democracy, the environment or human rights.

María Corina Machado – Nobel Peace Prize 2025

Terumi Tanaka, a survivor of the US atomic bombing of Nagasaki, speaks at an ICAN event in Hiroshima in 2011

Nihon Hidankyo - Nobel Prize for Peace 2024

The Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers, shortened to Nihon Hidankyo, is a grassroots movement representing the Hibakusha (survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki). The organisation is led by Terumi Tanaka, a Japanese anti-nuclear and anti-war activist and Hibakusha himself. They were awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace for their work towards achieving a world free of nuclear weapons, and for promoting the social and economic rights of all nuclear weapons victims. Through the recording of witness testimonies, governmental lobbying, public appeals, and sending delegates to important international events, they promote global nuclear disarmament and raise awareness of the dire humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons.

Nihon Hidankyo - Nobel Prize for Peace 2024

Black and white image of Irish peace activist and politician Sean Macbride

Sean MacBride Peace Prize

The Sean MacBride Peace Prize is a prestigious award given annually by the International Peace Bureau (IPB). Named after Sean MacBride, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former chairman and president of the IPB, this award honours individuals, organisations, or movements that have made outstanding contributions to peace, disarmament, and human rights. Past laureates include the Ukrainian Pacifism Movement, Black Lives Matter, Bruce Kent, and Noam Chomsky.

Sean MacBride Peace Prize

Narges Mohammadi - Nobel Peace Prize 2023

This year's Nobel Peace Prize goes to Narges Mohammadi. The Iranian human rights activist has been campaigning for women's rights in Iran and general democratic reforms in the country for years. During the 2022 protests, she released a report that exposed the systematic torture of women in prisons. For her work she was repeatedly persecuted by the Iranian regime, arrested and sentenced to long prison terms. She is currently serving a multi-year sentence in the notorious Ewin Prison.

Narges Mohammadi - Nobel Peace Prize 2023

Minimalist black, gold graphics on a white background displaying the Nobel Peace Prize winners - Ales Bialiatski portrait, and logos for Memorial, and the Center for Civil Liberties

Nobel Peace Prize 2022

Hailed as a triple win for human rights and the situation in Ukraine - the winners of this year's Nobel Peace Prize went to Russian civil rights group Memorial, the Center for Civil Liberties in Ukraine, and to Belarusian pro-democracy activist Ales Bialiatski and his work with Viasna. They are being honoured for highlighting and documenting war crimes, human rights abuses, and abuses of power. As well as the promotion of civil society and the protection of human rights during the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Nobel Peace Prize 2022

Nobel Prize for Peace 2021 - Maria Ressa & Dmitry Muratow

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2021 was awarded to Ressa and Muratov for their incredible work protecting freedom of expression, democracy, and peace. Ressa for her commitment to investigative journalism in the Philippines, through her digital media company Rappler. With a focus on the deadly regime of controversial Duterte, and also the spread of fake news via social media. Then Muratov, who has for decades defended freedom of speech in Russia against worsening conditions. As editor-in-chief for the newspaper the Novaya Gazeta for 24 years, the independent news source has exposed corruption, police violence, unlawful arrests, and threats to democracy. At risk to their own safety, they continue to fight for freedom of information, to ensure the protection of these fundamental rights.

Nobel Prize for Peace 2021 - Maria Ressa & Dmitry Muratow

Nobel Prize for Peace 2020 - World Food Project

This year the Nobel Peace Prize recognised the undeniable connection between armed conflict and hunger. The WFP is quite literally life saving for the millions of people living in areas affected by violence and war. Whether they have fled their homes through fear, or hunger is being used as a tool for surrender – the World Food Project is working tirelessly to bring food assistance to these areas, and also promoting peace - thus eliminating hunger, and ending the cycle of using it as a weapon of war.

Nobel Prize for Peace 2020 - World Food Project

Suggest a link