For the first time since World War II, the physical Nobel Prize-giving ceremony in Stockholm has been canceled.
A televised ceremony is nevertheless planned, in the absence of the winners who will receive their prize remotely.
A small Peace Prize ceremony is planned in Oslo on December 10, but in a very small format.
The physical Nobel Prize giving ceremony on December 10 in Stockholm is canceled, a first since 1944 caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Nobel Foundation announced on Tuesday.
A televised ceremony is nevertheless planned, in the absence of the winners who will receive their prize remotely.
The names of the winners of the various prizes (Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Peace and Economy) will indeed be announced on the dates scheduled, between October 5 and 12, from Stockholm and Oslo.
There will still be a digital ceremony
A small Peace Prize ceremony is scheduled in Oslo on December 10, but in a very small format, the director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute announced earlier.
In Stockholm, every December 10 - anniversary of the death of the creator of the Swedish prizes Alfred Nobel - the prizes awarded by the Swedish committees are awarded: Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, Literature, to which is added the prize for Creative Economy more recent.
>> READ ALSO -
How does a Nobel Prize for Literature work?
Olga Tokarczuk indulges in Europe 1
"The last time there was no ceremony in Stockholm was in 1944," during World War II, Gustav Källstrand, the historian of the Nobel Foundation, told AFP.
"Even if there will still be a digital ceremony this year," he said.
The 1944 Nobel Prizes were awarded retroactively in 1945
During World War II, several prizes were neither awarded nor awarded, although Sweden had not participated in the conflict.
The 1944 prizes were awarded retroactively to 1945. In 1940, 1941 and 1942, no prizes or ceremonies were held.
This year, "the idea is that the medals and the diplomas are delivered to the laureates in a safe way in their countries of residence, most likely with the help of embassies and universities of the laureates", explained the Foundation.
The organization that oversees the Nobels had already announced in July the cancellation of the grand banquet following the ceremony at Stockholm City Hall, a first since a cancellation in 1956 due to a diplomatic incident linked to the Budapest uprising. .
The Foundation had already warned that the awards ceremony could take place in new formats, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.