New Delhi, Oct 10 (IANS) The highly coveted 2025 Nobel Peace Prize was on Friday awarded to Venezuela’s Maria Corina Machado for being a steadfast supporter of democracy, and not to US President Donald Trump, who had been gunning for the prestigious award. Machado was awarded the prize for being “a brave and committed champion of peace”, and for keeping “the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness”. 

“The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the 2025 #NobelPeacePrize to Maria Corina Machado for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said. Machado had been a key, unifying figure in the democracy movement in Venezuela. Her leadership showed “that the tools of democracy are also the tools of peace”.

She also embodied the hope of a different future, one where the fundamental rights of citizens are protected, and their voices are heard. “She is receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy,” the Committee said. This year’s Nobel Peace Prize was much-awaited as it had stirred intense speculation with Trump emerging as a frontrunner and also pushing for it aggressively.

Several nations like Israel, Russia, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Thailand, Armenia, and Cambodia are said to have nominated the US President, crediting Trump with mediating several protracted conflicts. Significantly, the prestigious award has drawn 338 nominations this year, including 94 organisations and 244 people from different walks of life. Trump claimed to be the first "in history" to have "solved eight wars in a period of nine months".

Since 1901, the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded 105 times, to 139 laureates: 92 men, 19 women, and 28 organizations. In 2014, Malala Yousafzai became the youngest peace laureate at 17 years old. At 86 years old, Joseph Rotblat is the oldest to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995. The Nobel Peace Prize for 2024 was awarded to the Japanese organisation Nihon Hidankyo -- a grassroots movement of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki.