Nobel Peace Prize: Ressa and Muratow receive Nobel Prize

Because of the corona pandemic, only two Nobel Prizes will be presented personally this year – to journalists Muratow and Ressa. Both are honored for their struggle for freedom of expression.

Stockholm has been shining in bright colors for almost a week – a festive preparation for the award of the Nobel Prizes. The opera is illuminated in red, a globe is projected onto the town hall and the Västerbron, a 300 meter long bridge between two islands, pulsates in neon green after dark.

This is a homage to Marie Curie, the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize, explains artist Emma Hjortenklev Wassberg: “I wanted to honor Marie Curie, because women have been able to vote in Sweden for exactly 100 years. So it made sense to do the first To put the award winner in the spotlight, “said Wassberg. “She received the award for research into radioactivity. That’s why I wanted to create a radioactive feeling with my work.”

Award for the fight for freedom of expression

Even today, the awardees are something special – this year twelve men will be honored and only one woman: Maria Ressa, a Filipino journalist, shares the Nobel Peace Prize with her Russian colleague Dmitrij Muratov. They are recognized for their commitment to freedom of expression in two countries where this is not a matter of course.

At lunchtime, both of them receive a medal and certificate in person in Oslo. “Thank you for allowing us to be in the spotlight. It’s great to be here. Thanks to the Philippine government for letting me travel,” said Ressa at a press conference in Oslo on Thursday.

“But it’s not all good news: Our energy minister has filed a complaint against seven media organizations, including me and my Internet portal. Another legal process is threatened.” Ressa is editor-in-chief of the online news portal Rappler, she is considered a sharp critic of the Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.

Ressa and Muratow receive the award personally

Ressa and Muratow are the only ones who will receive their awards in person on Nobel Day – and, due to the corona, only in front of a smaller audience than normal: Instead of the 1000 guests, only 200 are allowed to attend the award ceremony in Oslo. As usual, this year’s Nobel Prize winners were announced in October.

In Stockholm it has been known for months that there will be no big gala for the second time. Instead, the prizes for physics, medicine, chemistry, literature and economics have already been distributed to the recipients – in their home countries. The two Germans, the Hamburg climate researcher Klaus Hasselmann and the Mühlheim chemist Benjamin List traveled to the Swedish embassy in Berlin.

Researcher List: “A special event”

List knows exactly what they are missing out on in Stockholm, because a good 25 years ago his aunt, Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, received the Nobel Prize for Medicine. “I was the only scientist in this generation, from the nephews. And then she kindly took me along, that was great. I’m very grateful, especially now,” says List. “Last year I thought: ‘The poor Nobel Prize winners, they are not allowed to go to Stockholm’ because I know how incredibly beautiful it is and what a special event.”

If the pandemic does not prevent the big gala again next year, List and Hasselmann can come to Stockholm – for their personal, big noble moment.