This was the 2021 Nobel Prize award ceremony

A couple of months ago the news about the Nobel prizes was about who the winners were and why they had received such honor.

In the first week of October, announcements are usually made of the winners of the Nobel prizes in science – Physics, Chemistry, Medicine -, as well as those for Literature, Peace and Economics.

But while those ads receive very wide media coverage, it is really only the beginning of the process in which the winners receive their respective prizes.

The awards, which consist of a gold medal and a hand-painted diploma, are awarded each year on December 10: the day that corresponds to Alfred Nobel’s death anniversary.

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For the Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, Literature and Economics awards, the ceremony, in which King Charles XVI Gustav of Sweden presents the awards, takes place in the Stockholm Concert Hall. For his part, King Harald V of Norway, presents the Nobel Peace Prize at the Oslo City Hall.

In addition to these solemn ceremonies, around them, there are other events that are called the Nobel Week, in which there are conferences both by winners from other years, as well as presentations by the winners of the current year.

And also for many years, these events have been accompanied by a concert, and a banquet held at Stockholm City Hall.

From distance

Nobel prizes have been awarded for 120 years, but not continuously. Many of these interruptions were due to the world wars, but there have also been some years in which one or another award has been declared void, which can be done according to the statutes of the Nobel Foundation.

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However, the pandemic in which we live posed another challenge: the prizes could be awarded, but the delivery was much more complicated or had to be discarded entirely.

So, A year ago the solemn ceremony was held like many of our current activities: it was streamed online. In addition to that, the symbols of the awards, medals and diplomas were sent home to the winners.

But this 2021, thanks to vaccines and what we have learned about the transmission of covid-19, many face-to-face activities have already been resumed in the world: and the Nobel Prize ceremony has been no exception.

With concert, but without banquet

Although the laureates did not meet in Sweden, Yesterday, Friday, December 10, there was a ceremony with little public Furthermore, each one of them received their medal and diploma in small ceremonies that were carried out in the institutions in which they work.

Before the ceremony, Last Wednesday, December 8, the traditional concert was held, on this occasion, the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra was accompanied by cellist Sol Gabetta, all conducted by Ryan Bancroft.

And of course this “hybrid delivery” mode means that the Nobel banquet will still not exist this year.

But if we are lucky – not just for the Nobel laureates, but for the whole world – maybe next year we can be reviewing these events. Meanwhile, If you are interested in knowing what guests eat at a Nobel banquet, you can review the archive of menus from 1901 to 2019, on the official website of the Nobel Laureates.