Trump Again Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize as 2026 Winner Is Set to Be Announced

The Norwegian Nobel Committee is scheduled to announce the winner of the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize on October 9, with the award ceremony set for December 10 in Oslo, according to Wikipedia's summary of the prize calendar. The Nobel Institute registered 287 candidates this year — 208 individuals and 79 organizations — a list the committee keeps confidential and never publishes in full, Time magazine reported.

Donald Trump is among those nominated, according to reporting compiled by Time and Wikipedia's tracking of publicly disclosed nominations, which cites his role in brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and the 2020 Abraham Accords as reasons given by some nominators.

What Trump Has Said

Speaking to reporters on October 7, Trump said it would be a "great discredit" to the Nobel Committee if it did not give him the prize, according to Al Jazeera. He told journalists he had "done stuff that nobody else has ever done," and said, "No president has probably ever settled any wars. I settled eight wars," according to a report by The Tribune (India) covering the same remarks.

Trump also acknowledged doubt about his chances, telling reporters the Nobel Committee has "a reputation for maybe not giving it to people like me," the same report said. Time magazine reported that Trump has separately pointed to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon as part of his case for the award.

A Pattern Going Back to 2025 and Earlier

Trump was nominated repeatedly during his second term before this year, according to a Newsweek review of public nomination announcements. Pakistan's prime minister nominated him in June 2026 citing his role in India-Pakistan ceasefire diplomacy; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented a nomination letter at a White House visit in July; and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet nominated him in August after a Cambodia-Thailand ceasefire. Armenia and Azerbaijan's leaders also voiced support for a nomination following an August 8 White House summit on their countries' dispute, Newsweek reported.

Despite that campaign, Trump did not win the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, which went to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, whom Al Jazeera referred to as last year's laureate. Trump has said Machado told him during an Oval Office meeting that she did not believe she deserved the prize and that he did instead, according to Al Jazeera's and The Tribune's reporting of his remarks; neither outlet reported independent confirmation of Machado making that statement.

Who Else Is in the Running

Time magazine's review of contenders, drawing on prediction-market odds from Polymarket, named five candidates seen as more likely winners than Trump: Sudan's Emergency Response Rooms, a volunteer-run humanitarian network; Mykola Kuleba, co-founder of the child-reunification group Save Ukraine; Yulia Navalnaya, the Russian opposition figure and widow of Alexei Navalny; Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney; and Pope Leo XIV.

Haakon Gjerløw, a researcher at the Peace Research Institute Oslo, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that Trump's chances are "quite low," partly because the committee is wary of a decision that could be seen as bowing to pressure from Trump or that could "do more harm than good." Shawn Davies, a senior analyst at the Uppsala Conflict Data Program, told the same outlet that U.S. foreign policy has in some instances shifted from upholding the postwar international order to violating it, adding to skepticism about Trump's case.

Why It Matters

The Nobel Peace Prize carries no official role in U.S. or international policy, but the recurring nomination cycle has become a point of recurring friction between Trump and the Norwegian Nobel Committee. The committee does not comment on deliberations before its announcement, and past winners have sometimes surprised observers.