2009 Nobel Prizes To Be Announced Between October 5-12

The 2009 Nobel prizes will be announced between October 5 and 12, the Nobel Foundation said Monday.

The 2009 Nobel prizes will be announced between October 5 and 12, the Nobel Foundation said Monday, with US President Barack Obama and France's Nicolas Sarkozy known to be in the running for the Peace Prize.

The Peace Prize, the most celebrated of the prestigious prizes, will be announced on October 9 in Oslo by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

Prize for a Nobel Cause
Nobel Prizes are committed to recognize, motivate and reward talents par excellence and also to acknowledge selfless, humanitarian causes, globally.

The names of the nominees are a closely-guarded secret, but those who submit nominations are allowed to disclose their choice. The list for the peace prize is also known to comprise the names of a record 205 individuals and organizations.

Both Obama and Sarkozy are already known to be on the list, although observers in Norway have said it is unclear if either leader has a real shot at winning the much-coveted laurel.

Other known contenders for this year's Peace Prize include former French-Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt and Chinese dissident Hu Jia.

The Cluster Munitions Coalition is also known to be on the list after it played a central role in getting nearly 100 countries to sign a treaty last year in Oslo banning cluster bombs.

Last year's winner was former Finnish president and career diplomat Martti Ahtisaari for his efforts on several continents, over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts.

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The Nobel season will kick off with the announcement in Stockholm of the prize for medicine or physiology on October 5, to be followed by the physics prize on October 6, the chemistry prize on October 7 and the prize for economics on October 12.

In keeping with tradition, the Swedish Academy will set the date for its announcement of the literature prize later. It is traditionally awarded on a Thursday, and could therefore be announced on October 8 or October 15.

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Each Nobel prize this year will carry a prize sum of 10 million Swedish kronor (1.25 million dollars, 904,500 euros), to be shared if the prize is awarded to more than one laureate.

Source-AFP
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