Pop quiz: Who is the Nobel Prize Committee?

[JackRiddler]

I'm betting that yesterday, most of the people reading this would have been able to correctly name at least two of the judges on American Idol without looking it up.

Now be honest: As of last night, what did you know about the Nobel Peace Prize jury?

Full disclosure: I could have named many of the laureates. I vaguely remembered the prize was Norwegian, rather than Swedish. And I would have guessed the committee was an international mix of personages from fields like law, politics and medicine.

On the last point, I would have been wrong.

It turns out the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which selects each year's Nobel Peace Prize winner, consists of five current and former members of the Norwegian Parliament, a.k.a. the Stortinget.

See their portraits here:

http://nobelpeaceprize.org/en_GB/nomination_committee/members/

The Stortinget elects committee members to five-year terms:

http://nobelpeaceprize.org/en_GB/nomination_committee/committee_2009/

In other words, this is a small committee of and by the Stortinget, which in turn reflects Norwegian party politics. The pictures give the impression of polite Scandinavian officials, middle class and well-educated. Nothing wrong with that!

Every year they evaluate a couple of hundred nominated candidates, and publish the equivalent of an editorial board endorsement. But their nod is considered to legitimate the recipient more than any other honor, and sets the agenda for the entire world's political media for up to one week (depending on concurrent developments).

All I can say after learning that is: They've got an amazing PR set-up!

If the whole parliament of a nation twenty times more populous than Norway passes a unanimous resolution recognizing the heroic act of a given world figure, it still would not get one-twentieth the attention accorded to the annual pronouncement of the parliamentary reading circle in Oslo.

[JackRiddler]

1. Reading kick

[Orwellian_Ghost]

2. K&R