PRESS CONFERENCE

The Story behind Nobel Selection
Jørgen Watne Frydnes, Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee

15:00-16:00 Monday, July 28, 2025
Language: The speech and Q & A will be in English.

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded last year to Nihon Hidankyo, the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations, a grassroots movement representing hibakusha, survivors of the August 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which also works to eradicate nuclear weapons.

Nihon Hidankyo was the first Japanese group to join 29 Japanese individual laureates in peace, sciences, and literature. It had been 50 years since the last Japanese Nobel Peace Prize winner, former Prime Minister Satō Eisaku, in part for his own stance against nuclear weapons.

What goes into Nobel Prize selection? Will U.S. President Donald Trump win this year’s Peace Prize, after separate nominations by both Pakistan and Israel? For the story behind what makes a Nobel Laureate, the FCCJ will welcome Jorgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, who will visit Japan, as part of 80th Anniversary events.

Frydnes became chairman of the Nobel Committee last year and said the key reasons for giving the award to Nihon Hidankyo were its relentless “efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons,” and a “testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again.” The Norwegian Nobel Institute will hold a separate event in Japan in July calling for nuclear disarmament.

For the latest from Norway on the Nobel process and on its selection of Nihon Hidankyo, please join us on July 28.

How to attend: Please register at front@fccj.or.jp with your name, the name of your media outlet, and FCCJ membership number. Doors open 15 minutes before the event.

How to watch online: https://www.youtube.com/c/FCCJchannel/live  

How to ask questions: https://forms.gle/pSE3wvqVMYc1xM4k7

TV crew: Please make a reservation at front@fccj.or.jp. Doors open for TV crews only at 30 minutes before the event. FCCJ will limit live-streaming of FCCJ-hosted press conferences to Club members only. Non-members will no longer be permitted to live-stream these events. However, non-members may still film for reporting purposes and use footage after the press conference. 
 

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Professional Activities Committee