US President Donald Trump insists he deserves this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. He claims he has “ended eight wars” since returning to office. Trump has called it a “big insult” to America if he doesn’t win.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner will be announced this Friday at 11 am local time (09:00 GMT) at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo. Behind the decision stand five people — members of Norway’s Nobel Committee — who will decide whether Trump gets his long-awaited global recognition.
How the Nobel Committee Works?
The Norwegian Nobel Committee, established in 1897, selects each year’s Peace Prize laureate. Norway’s Parliament (the Storting) elects its five members for six-year terms, and they may be re-elected.
Committee members reflect the political balance of Parliament, but cannot be sitting MPs. Once elected, they choose their own chair and deputy chair. The Norwegian Nobel Institute’s director serves as secretary.
Five Judges of Nobel Peace Prize 2025
1. Jorgen Watne Frydnes (Chair)
At 41, Jorgen Watne Frydnes is the youngest-ever chair of the Nobel Committee. Appointed in 2021, his term lasts until 2026. He is a respected human rights advocate and currently serves as secretary-general of PEN Norway, an organisation dedicated to promoting freedom of expression.
Frydnes has worked with Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) and is part of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee. He helped rebuild the island of Utoeya after the 2011 massacre of 69 Labour Party youth activists and managed the island’s memorial. Although officially nonpolitical, he is known to support Norway’s ruling Labour Party.
2. Asle Toje (Vice Chair)
At 51, Asle Toje has been a committee member since 2018 and was reappointed for 2024–2029. He is a conservative scholar who previously served as research director at the Norwegian Nobel Institute. He authored The European Union as a Small Power: After the Post-Cold War.
Toje attended Trump’s 2025 inauguration and described it as a “f****** great party.”
He believes Western liberals should take a more “nuanced” approach to Trump and the MAGA movement. However, he denies being influenced by lobbying:
“These types of influence campaigns have a rather more negative effect than a positive one… we are used to working in a locked room without being attempted to be influenced,” he told The National.
3. Anne Enger
Enger, 75, has been on the committee since 2018 and will remain until 2026. She began as a nursing educator and later joined politics through Norway’s Centre Party.
She served as Minister of Culture and Deputy Prime Minister between 1997–1999, briefly acting as Prime Minister in 1998 and as Petroleum and Energy Minister in 1999.
Enger became County Governor of Østfold in 2004. She once led Norway’s People’s Movement Against Free Abortion but failed to reverse abortion rights. She also opposed Norway joining the European Union, arguing it would erode democracy and tradition.
4. Kristin Clemet
Clemet, 68, represents Norway’s Conservative Party (Høyre). Appointed in 2021, she will serve until 2026. An economist by training, she was twice an adviser to former Prime Minister Kåre Willoch and later Minister of Education from 2001–2005.
A Trump critic, Clemet, once wrote:
“After just over 100 days as president, [Trump] is well underway in dismantling American democracy, and he is doing everything he can to tear down the liberal and rules-based world order.”
5. Gry Larsen
At 49, Larsen is the newest member, appointed in 2024 for a term ending in 2029. She is a former Labour Party state secretary in the Foreign Ministry and now heads CARE Norway, a humanitarian group supporting women’s rights. Larsen has criticized Trump for cutting USAID funding and his attitude toward women.
In 2006, the Norwegian Israel Centre Against Anti-Semitism accused her of supporting an Israel boycott, though she did not publicly respond.
How the Committee Decide?
The committee receives nominations by January 31 and shortlists candidates in March. Deliberations remain secret, and members never disclose how they vote. Chair Frydnes told the BBC, “We discuss, we argue, there is a high temperature… but also, of course, we are civilised, and we try to make a consensus-based decision every year.”
The committee faces a tough decision amid wars, global instability, and Trump’s pressure campaign. Frydnes insists the committee “stays strong and principled.”
With 338 nominees this year, including Sudan’s Emergency Response Rooms and Yulia Navalnaya, the judges’ choice will reflect how they define peace in a turbulent world.
