The Peace medal has the inscription `` Pro pace et fraternitate gentium , '' which means `` For the peace and brotherhood of men . '' ** A person must be alive to be nominated . If they die during the consideration period , their name will be removed . Only if a person is announced as a winner and dies before the ceremony will a posthumous award be given . The history ** The Nobel Peace Prize was created by Alfred Nobel , a Swedish scientist , industrialist and inventor of dynamite . ** Ninety-one Nobel Peace Prizes have been awarded since 1901 . It was not awarded 19 times , most notably during World War I and World War II . ** Sixty-two Nobel Peace Prizes have been awarded to a single laureate ; 28 prizes have been shared by two laureates . One time , the prize was shared between three people : Yasser Arafat , Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin . Recent winners ** Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo won last year but could not attend . The political activist and longtime critic of communist rule in China is serving an 11-year prison term for what the
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- This year 's Nobel Peace Prize is divided between three women , Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee of Liberia and Tawakkul Karman of Yemen , the Nobel committee announced Friday . Since it was introduced at the beginning of the 20th century , the Peace Prize has become the preeminent award honoring individuals and organizations that work for peace , justice and financial and political stability , according to the Nobel Committee . Here are some facts , figures and history behind the award : The process ** Nominations come from lawmakers around the world , university professors , previous Nobel laureates and members of the Nobel committee . ** That committee -- made up of five distinguished Norwegians chosen by the country 's parliament -- picks the winner . ** This year , a record 241 candidates were nominated . The winner is announced Friday , but the names of the other nominees wo n't be revealed for another 50 years . The award ** The award consists of a medal , a personal diploma and a cash prize -LRB- 10 million Swedish kronor , or about U.S. $ 1.4 million -RRB- . **