A total of 285 candidates have been nominated for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, including 196 individuals and 89 organizations, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced on Wednesday.
This means that this year's field of candidates is significantly smaller than last year, when there were 351 valid nominations. The highest number of nominees was reached in 2016 with 376 candidates.
The deadline for nominating potential award winners was the end of January.
The Nobel Institutions traditionally keep the names of the candidates secret for 50 years. Members of parliament, members of government, heads of state, certain scientists and former Nobel Peace Prize winners are among those eligible to nominate.
The winners of the Nobel Prizes in the categories of medicine, physics, chemistry, literature, peace and economics are announced at the beginning of October each year. The name of this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner is scheduled to be announced on October 11.