The Nobel Peace Prize got 2025 was awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado.
Machado garnered the prize coveted by President Donald Trump, who has lobbied for the prize and was endorsed by seven world leaders, Politicoreported.
Trump claimed to have ended seven to eight wars over the course of this administration.
His peace work continued as recently as this week when he finalized the first phase of a peace deal in Gaza.
It is believed the winner was picked weeks ago.
Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, was asked after the announcement why Trump did not win and if Trump campaigning got the prize affected how the committee voted, Mediaitereported.
“In the long history of the Nobel Peace Prize, I think this committee has seen many types of campaign, media attention. We receive thousands and thousands of letters every year of people wanting to say what, for them, leads to peace,” Frydnes said. “This committee sits in a room filled with the portraits of all laureates and that room is filled with both courage and integrity. So we base only our decision on the work and the will of Alfred Nobel.”
He continued by explaining why Machado ultimately won, calling her a “brave and committed champion of peace” who “keeps the flame of democracy burning during a growing darkness.”
“In the past year, Miss Machado has been forced to live in hiding. Despite serious threats against her life, she has remained in the country, a choice that has inspired millions,” he said. “When authoritarians seize power, it is crucial to recognize courageous defenders of freedom who rise and resist.”
Frydnes, when announcing Marchado as the winner, said, “We live in a world where democracy is in retreat, where more and more authoritarian regimes are challenging norms and resorting to violence,” per Politico.
He added Venezuela is “not unique,” with “rule of law abused by those in control.”
Machado is an ardent critic of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.
Trump has spoken about his chances of winning all year.
“They will never give me a Nobel Peace Prize,” he said in February. “It’s too bad. I deserve it, but they will never give it to me.”
He reiterated those thoughts Thursday.
“I don’t know what they’re going to do, but I know nobody in history has solved eight wars in a period of nine months … They’ll have to do what they do. Whatever they do is fine. I know this: I didn’t do it for that,” Trump said.
Some were glad Trump did not win.
“I’m so glad the orange guy didn’t win,” said Ulf Smilowsky, a German tourist who was watching the live broadcast of the announcement on the screens outside Oslo’s Nobel Peace Center. “I think he was the only one who thought he’d win, and I’m glad he didn’t.”
Elliot Roberts, an exchange student from Montana, said, “I’m glad the Norwegian Nobel Committee resisted the pressure and gave it to someone who truly deserves it at a moment when democracy is under attack around the world.”
“The award, which comes with around a $1 million prize, is given annually to a person, group or organization ‘who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses,’”according to the Nobel organization, Politico reported.
Four U.S. presidents and one vice president have won the award. The presidents are former Presidents Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter, Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt; and former Vice President Al Gore also won.
