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| Meta Title | Nobel peace prize awarded to Barack Obama | Nobel peace prize | The Guardian |
| Meta Description | US president in surprise win for âextraordinary effortsâ to improve world diplomacy and co-operation |
| Meta Canonical | null |
| Boilerpipe Text | âI will accept this award as a call to actionâ
guardian.co.uk
The US president, Barack Obama, said today he was âsurprised and deeply humbledâ after being awarded the 2009
Nobel peace prize
, a decision that stunned international experts.
âI do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many transformative figures that have been honoured by this prize,â he said.
Speaking from the White Houseâs Rose Garden, Obama confirmed that he would accept the award, but said he would not view it as âa recognition of my own accomplishmentsâ.
âI will accept the award as a call to action, a call to all nations to confront the challenges of the 21st century,â he said.
Obama was awarded the prize âfor his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoplesâ.
To gasps from those assembled, the Nobel committee chairman, Thorbjoern Jagland, said âonly rarely has a person such as Obama captured the worldâs attention and given his people hope for a better futureâ.
âHis diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the worldâs population,â
the citation said
.
The committee said Obama, who only took up the presidency in January, had been acknowledged for his calls to reduce the worldâs stockpile of nuclear weapons and working for world peace.
âObama has as president created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play.â
Obama will donate to charity the $1.4m (ÂŁ880,000) cash award that comes with the prize. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said it was likely that more than one charity will benefit, but that the president has yet to decide which charities will share the windfall.
The choice of Obama for the prize from a field of more than 200 candidates astounded international commentators, in part because he took office less than two weeks before the February nomination deadline.
His name had been mentioned in speculation before the award but many Nobel watchers believed it was too early to award it to the president.
But Geir Lundestad, the secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said that Obamaâs emphasis on international co-operation, arms control and nuclear disarmament had âalready had a very significant impact on international relationsâ.
âWe do of course hope that there will be many concrete changes over the years, but when a president makes all these changes on these ideals, which are the ideals the Norwegian Nobel Committee has had for 100 years, we felt it was right to strengthen him as much as we can in this further struggle for these ideals,â he told the Guardian.
Michael Cox, a North America expert at the Chatham House thinktank, said: âIt is difficult to see why it would be awarded to him at this stage in his presidency. There are problems in the Middle East and an ongoing war in Afghanistan. You could say it is a little bit premature. It is certainly a very interesting choice.â
The award comes as
Barack Obama
considers sending up to 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan, where the US is mired in an eight-year conflict.
Jagland said that the ongoing war in Afghanistan should not obscure Obamaâs achievements. âThe decision to go into Afghanistan had a unanimous UN mandate. The conflict concerns us all â this is not only the responsibility of Barack Obama,â he told the Guardian. âHopefully the improved international climate [Obama has fostered] could help resolve the conflict in Afghanistan.â
Speculation over potential winners had focused on Zimbabweâs prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, a Colombian senator and a Chinese dissident, along with an Afghan womenâs rights activist.
The first African-American to hold the countryâs highest office, Obama has called for disarmament and attempted â so far without success â to restart the stalled Middle East peace process. The committee said that for 108 years it had sought to stimulate precisely the international policy and attitudes for which Obama is now the worldâs leading spokesman.
âThe committee endorses Obamaâs appeal that ânow is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challengesâ.â
Former US presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson won the award in 1906 and 1919 respectively. Former president
Jimmy Carter won the award in 2002
for his âdecades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflictâ.
Today, Carter described the awarding of the prize to Obama as a âbold statement of international support for his vision and commitmentâ.
The announcement came as Obamaâs special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchellâs was meeting with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Many in Israel appeared perplexed by the decision but the countryâs leadership offered congratulations.
âI believe the Nobel prize will strengthen President Obamaâs ability to contribute to a comprehensive peace in the Middle East,â the defence minister Ehud Barak.
Shimon Peres, who won the prize himself in 1994, said he was happy the prize committee chose to honour the âmost unusual and far-reaching impactâ of Obamaâs leadership.
The former US vice-president Al Gore shared the 2007 prize with the UN panel on climate change.
The prize will be awarded in Oslo in December. |
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Barack Obama at the Nobel peace prize ceremony at Oslo Town Hall, Oslo. Photograph: Allover Norway / Rex Features
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Barack Obama at the Nobel peace prize ceremony at Oslo Town Hall, Oslo. Photograph: Allover Norway / Rex Features
[Nobel peace prize](https://www.theguardian.com/world/nobelpeaceprize)
This article is more than **16 years old**
# Nobel peace prize awarded to Barack Obama
This article is more than 16 years old
US president in surprise win for âextraordinary effortsâ to improve world diplomacy and co-operation
[Poll: Should Barack Obama have won the Nobel peace prize?](http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/poll/2009/oct/09/obama-administration-barack-obama)
[Gwladys Fouché](https://www.theguardian.com/profile/gwladysfouche) in Oslo and [James Sturcke](https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jamessturcke)
Fri 9 Oct 2009 19.30 BST
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âI will accept this award as a call to actionâ guardian.co.uk
The US president, Barack Obama, said today he was âsurprised and deeply humbledâ after being awarded the 2009 [Nobel peace prize](https://www.theguardian.com/world/nobelpeaceprize), a decision that stunned international experts.
âI do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many transformative figures that have been honoured by this prize,â he said.
Speaking from the White Houseâs Rose Garden, Obama confirmed that he would accept the award, but said he would not view it as âa recognition of my own accomplishmentsâ.
âI will accept the award as a call to action, a call to all nations to confront the challenges of the 21st century,â he said.
Obama was awarded the prize âfor his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoplesâ.
To gasps from those assembled, the Nobel committee chairman, Thorbjoern Jagland, said âonly rarely has a person such as Obama captured the worldâs attention and given his people hope for a better futureâ.
âHis diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the worldâs population,â [the citation said](http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2009/press.html).
The committee said Obama, who only took up the presidency in January, had been acknowledged for his calls to reduce the worldâs stockpile of nuclear weapons and working for world peace.
âObama has as president created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play.â
Obama will donate to charity the \$1.4m (ÂŁ880,000) cash award that comes with the prize. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said it was likely that more than one charity will benefit, but that the president has yet to decide which charities will share the windfall.
The choice of Obama for the prize from a field of more than 200 candidates astounded international commentators, in part because he took office less than two weeks before the February nomination deadline.
His name had been mentioned in speculation before the award but many Nobel watchers believed it was too early to award it to the president.
But Geir Lundestad, the secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said that Obamaâs emphasis on international co-operation, arms control and nuclear disarmament had âalready had a very significant impact on international relationsâ.
âWe do of course hope that there will be many concrete changes over the years, but when a president makes all these changes on these ideals, which are the ideals the Norwegian Nobel Committee has had for 100 years, we felt it was right to strengthen him as much as we can in this further struggle for these ideals,â he told the Guardian.
Michael Cox, a North America expert at the Chatham House thinktank, said: âIt is difficult to see why it would be awarded to him at this stage in his presidency. There are problems in the Middle East and an ongoing war in Afghanistan. You could say it is a little bit premature. It is certainly a very interesting choice.â
The award comes as [Barack Obama](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/barack-obama) considers sending up to 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan, where the US is mired in an eight-year conflict.
Jagland said that the ongoing war in Afghanistan should not obscure Obamaâs achievements. âThe decision to go into Afghanistan had a unanimous UN mandate. The conflict concerns us all â this is not only the responsibility of Barack Obama,â he told the Guardian. âHopefully the improved international climate \[Obama has fostered\] could help resolve the conflict in Afghanistan.â
Speculation over potential winners had focused on Zimbabweâs prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, a Colombian senator and a Chinese dissident, along with an Afghan womenâs rights activist.
The first African-American to hold the countryâs highest office, Obama has called for disarmament and attempted â so far without success â to restart the stalled Middle East peace process. The committee said that for 108 years it had sought to stimulate precisely the international policy and attitudes for which Obama is now the worldâs leading spokesman.
âThe committee endorses Obamaâs appeal that ânow is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challengesâ.â
Former US presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson won the award in 1906 and 1919 respectively. Former president [Jimmy Carter won the award in 2002](http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2002/index.html) for his âdecades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflictâ.
Today, Carter described the awarding of the prize to Obama as a âbold statement of international support for his vision and commitmentâ.
The announcement came as Obamaâs special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchellâs was meeting with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Many in Israel appeared perplexed by the decision but the countryâs leadership offered congratulations.
âI believe the Nobel prize will strengthen President Obamaâs ability to contribute to a comprehensive peace in the Middle East,â the defence minister Ehud Barak.
Shimon Peres, who won the prize himself in 1994, said he was happy the prize committee chose to honour the âmost unusual and far-reaching impactâ of Obamaâs leadership.
The former US vice-president Al Gore shared the 2007 prize with the UN panel on climate change.
The prize will be awarded in Oslo in December.
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### Nobel peace prize citation for Barack Obama
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- ### I hope Nobel members feel pleased with themselves, the smug idiots
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| Readable Markdown | âI will accept this award as a call to actionâ guardian.co.uk
The US president, Barack Obama, said today he was âsurprised and deeply humbledâ after being awarded the 2009 [Nobel peace prize](https://www.theguardian.com/world/nobelpeaceprize), a decision that stunned international experts.
âI do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many transformative figures that have been honoured by this prize,â he said.
Speaking from the White Houseâs Rose Garden, Obama confirmed that he would accept the award, but said he would not view it as âa recognition of my own accomplishmentsâ.
âI will accept the award as a call to action, a call to all nations to confront the challenges of the 21st century,â he said.
Obama was awarded the prize âfor his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoplesâ.
To gasps from those assembled, the Nobel committee chairman, Thorbjoern Jagland, said âonly rarely has a person such as Obama captured the worldâs attention and given his people hope for a better futureâ.
âHis diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the worldâs population,â [the citation said](http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2009/press.html).
The committee said Obama, who only took up the presidency in January, had been acknowledged for his calls to reduce the worldâs stockpile of nuclear weapons and working for world peace.
âObama has as president created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play.â
Obama will donate to charity the \$1.4m (ÂŁ880,000) cash award that comes with the prize. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said it was likely that more than one charity will benefit, but that the president has yet to decide which charities will share the windfall.
The choice of Obama for the prize from a field of more than 200 candidates astounded international commentators, in part because he took office less than two weeks before the February nomination deadline.
His name had been mentioned in speculation before the award but many Nobel watchers believed it was too early to award it to the president.
But Geir Lundestad, the secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said that Obamaâs emphasis on international co-operation, arms control and nuclear disarmament had âalready had a very significant impact on international relationsâ.
âWe do of course hope that there will be many concrete changes over the years, but when a president makes all these changes on these ideals, which are the ideals the Norwegian Nobel Committee has had for 100 years, we felt it was right to strengthen him as much as we can in this further struggle for these ideals,â he told the Guardian.
Michael Cox, a North America expert at the Chatham House thinktank, said: âIt is difficult to see why it would be awarded to him at this stage in his presidency. There are problems in the Middle East and an ongoing war in Afghanistan. You could say it is a little bit premature. It is certainly a very interesting choice.â
The award comes as [Barack Obama](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/barack-obama) considers sending up to 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan, where the US is mired in an eight-year conflict.
Jagland said that the ongoing war in Afghanistan should not obscure Obamaâs achievements. âThe decision to go into Afghanistan had a unanimous UN mandate. The conflict concerns us all â this is not only the responsibility of Barack Obama,â he told the Guardian. âHopefully the improved international climate \[Obama has fostered\] could help resolve the conflict in Afghanistan.â
Speculation over potential winners had focused on Zimbabweâs prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, a Colombian senator and a Chinese dissident, along with an Afghan womenâs rights activist.
The first African-American to hold the countryâs highest office, Obama has called for disarmament and attempted â so far without success â to restart the stalled Middle East peace process. The committee said that for 108 years it had sought to stimulate precisely the international policy and attitudes for which Obama is now the worldâs leading spokesman.
âThe committee endorses Obamaâs appeal that ânow is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challengesâ.â
Former US presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson won the award in 1906 and 1919 respectively. Former president [Jimmy Carter won the award in 2002](http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2002/index.html) for his âdecades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflictâ.
Today, Carter described the awarding of the prize to Obama as a âbold statement of international support for his vision and commitmentâ.
The announcement came as Obamaâs special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchellâs was meeting with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Many in Israel appeared perplexed by the decision but the countryâs leadership offered congratulations.
âI believe the Nobel prize will strengthen President Obamaâs ability to contribute to a comprehensive peace in the Middle East,â the defence minister Ehud Barak.
Shimon Peres, who won the prize himself in 1994, said he was happy the prize committee chose to honour the âmost unusual and far-reaching impactâ of Obamaâs leadership.
The former US vice-president Al Gore shared the 2007 prize with the UN panel on climate change.
The prize will be awarded in Oslo in December. |
| Shard | 99 (laksa) |
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