Each year in January, the Holberg Committee and the Nils Klim Committee convene to develop their respective recommendations for the awards that year. The recommendations are put forward to the Holberg Board, which will make a formal resolution on the awards' recipients. This year, the Board will meet on 1 February to make their decision. The recipient of this year’s Holberg Prize and Nils Klim Prize, respectively, will be announced during a ceremony at the University Aula in Bergen on 14 March, at 09:00, CET. The event is open to all and will also be livestreamed on the Holberg Prize website..

Both prizes are awarded in the same academic fields: the humanities, social sciences, law, and theology. While the candidates from all countries may be considered for the Holberg Prize, candidates for the Nils Klim Prize must be from or in a Nordic country and as a general rule be under the age of 35 at the nomination deadline. The age criterion may also be met through more detailed rules.

Nils Klim Candidate Recommended

The Nils Klim Committee convened on 19 January at the The Royal Danish Academy Of Sciences And Letters (DKVS) in Copenhagen, and they were unanimous in their recommendation of a candidate the the Prize. The committee had 18 nominated candidates to choose from.

The committee consisted of the following members:

• Ástráður Eysteinsson (Chair), Professor of Comparative Literature, University of Iceland.
• Andreas Føllesdal, Professor of Political Philosophy, Faculty of Law, University of Oslo.
• Dorthe Staunæs, Professor of Social Psychology, Danish School of Education, Emdrup, Aarhus University.
• Susanna Paasonen, Professor of Media Studies, Department of Media Studies, University of Turku.
• Sara Stendahl, Professor of Public Law, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg.

Significance of Local and Historical Knowledge

The day before the Nils Klim Committee Meeting, and event took place at the DKVS. Here, four younger, excellent speakers, including three previous Nils Klim Laureates, were invited to present perspectives on "Local and historical knowledge: Keys for rethinking contemporary planetary issues".

The speakers were:

• Frederik Poulsen, associate professor, University of Copenhagen; 2020 Nils Klim Laureate.
• Elisa Uusimäki, professor, University of Aarhus; 2022 Nils Klim Laureate.
• Aviâja Lyberth Hauptmann, assistant professor, Ilisimatusarfik, University of Greenland.
• Simona Zetterberg-Nielsen, associate professor, University of Aarhus; 2023 Nils Klim Laureate.

Read more about the event here.

Holberg Committee Recommendation Submitted

On 26 January, the Holberg Committee convened to submit their recommendation for the 2024 Holberg Price. The meeting took place at the Institute for Catalan Studies (IEC) in Barcelona. Here as well, the committee decision was unanimous.

For the 2024 prize, one hundred valid nominations were received by the deadline, for a total of 86 different candidates, that were subsequently considered by the Committee.

The following committee members took part in the deliberations:

• Heike Krieger (Acting Chair), Professor of Public Law and International Law, Freie Universität Berlin.
• Ann Phoenix, Professor of Psychosocial Studies, University College London.
• Jean Grondin, Professor of Philosophy, , University of Montreal.
• Sari Hanafi, Professor of Sociology, American University of Beirut. 
• Ryan Nefdt, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Cape Town.

Discussions on Political Ecology

On the same day as the Holberg Committee meeting, there was an open seminar at the IEC, where the 2023 Holberg Laureate, Professor Juan Martinez-Alier, and four other prominent researchers discussed how global political ecology as an academic field may address pressing issues of our time.

The other four speakers were: 

• Giorgos Kallis, ICREA Professor, ICTA, Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB).
• Marco Armiero, ICREA Professor, Institute for the History of Science, UAB.
• Gabriela Merlinsky, researcher, National Scientific and Technical Research Council, Argentina.
• Zehra Yaşın, assistant professor, University of Ankara.
• The event was moderated by the Holberg Prize Academic Director, Professor Bjørn Enge Bertelsen.

Read more about the event here.

Nominations

Anyone holding an academic position at a university, academy or another research institution is entitled to nominate candidates for the Holberg Prize. The deadline is 15 June each year. More information is available here.