Nobel Peace Prize ceremony to go ahead, the only in-person Nobel award this year

[November 01, 2021]    OSLO (Reuters) - The Nobel Peace Prize laureates will be able collect their awards in Oslo in December, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said, unlike in Stockholm where the other Nobel ceremonies have been cancelled due to the pandemic for the second year running.

The medal presented to Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine Charles M. Rice is seen, during a ceremony in New York, U.S. December 8, 2020. Mary Altaffer/Pool via REUTERS

Journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov, who braved the wrath of the leaders of the Philippines and Russia to expose corruption and misrule, won the Nobel Peace Prize this year, in an endorsement of free speech under fire worldwide.

All but one of the Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm. The Peace Prize is the only one awarded in Oslo.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided this year's Peace Prize award ceremony will be an in-person event taking place in Oslo City Hall on Dec. 10, it said.

"The Committee is expecting both Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov to attend the ceremony," the committee said in a statement.

The decision comes in contrast to the move by the Nobel Foundation not to hold a ceremony and a banquet for the laureates in Stockholm for the second year running.

Last year, no physical ceremony took place in Oslo due to the pandemic, when the United Nations' World Food Programme won the award.

The WFP's head, David Beasley, will attend this year's ceremony in Oslo, the committee added.

(Reporting by Gwladys Fouche, Editing by William Maclean)

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