New Delhi: The world’s most prestigious award ceremony reception, the Nobel Prize banquet, scheduled in December this year, has been cancelled because of the Coronavirus pandemic, the Nobel Foundation has said. The Nobel Prize Foundation is the body which manages the Nobel Prize has said that the events of the Nobel Week,  would be now held in new forms. Also Read:  Almost Quarter Of Delhi's Population Has Been Exposed To Coronavirus, Finds Sero-Prevalence Study

The Coronavirus pandemic has either led to cancellation or alteration in the format of several major events of the world.

As per a statement by the Nobel Foundation the 2020 Nobel Week will adopt new formats to celebrate and pay tribute to this year’s Laureates. It is to be noted that every year in December, all the Laureates, their families and many other guests usually gather in Stockholm and Oslo for a week filled with events and various types of meetings. Also Read | Coronavirus Vaccine: Looking To Volunteer For Covaxin Trials? Know How To Register For The Trial At AIIMS

Lars Heikensten, Executive Director of the Nobel Foundation has said that the Nobel Week will not be as usual, due to the ongoing pandemic. “This is a very special year − when everyone must make sacrifices and adapt to completely new circumstances – but we will be paying tribute in various ways to the Laureates, their discoveries and contributions,” he said.

Announcements to be made as usual in October:

The prize-awarding institutions expect to announce the Nobel Prizes as usual, this year during the period 5-12 October.



There are also plans to hold the public events – Nobel Calling Stockholm –which will take place at the Nobel Prize Museum and other venues around Stockholm, in alternative formats to comply with social distancing restrictions during the announcement week.

The foundation expects to be able to carry out the Nobel Prize Award Ceremonies in Oslo and Stockholm on 10 December, using new formats that both comply with social distancing restrictions and take into account that only some or perhaps no Laureates will participate on site.

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Banquet cancelled for the first time in decades

The Nobel Foundation's Board of Directors has decided that the traditional Nobel Banquet at the Stockholm City Hall will not take place this year, as the event brings together over a thousand people in a limited indoor space. So it is unreasonable to hold these events in 2020.

This is the first time since 1956 that the lavish banquet has been cancelled.

As per news agency AFP, the Nobel Banquet was last cancelled in 1956 to avoid inviting the Soviet ambassador because of the repression of the Hungarian Revolution. However that year an unofficial dinner was nevertheless organised, without the ambassador, in another room.

Before that the banquet was also cancelled during the two world wars and in 1907 and 1924. While no prizes were awarded during World War II, they were during World War I — although the ceremonies were postponed, AFP reported.

A look at some of the major events (global) that stand cancelled or postponed due to Covid-19

  • 93rd Academy Awards (the Oscars), which was scheduled to take place on February 28, 2021, postponed until April 25.

  • 55th Academy of Country Music Awards, originally scheduled on April 5, postponed to September 16

  • 47th Daytime Emmy Awards

  • 21st IIFA Awards, originally scheduled on 29 March and was to be held in Indore, postponed indefinitely

  • 2020 Billboard Music Awards, originally scheduled on April 29, postponed indefinitely

  • TED 2020

  •  2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics which were scheduled to take place in Tokyo starting 24 July


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