Nobel Foundation slashes prize size amid crisis
Baku, June 12 (AZERTAC). This year's Nobel Prize laureates will have a little less to pad their wallets with than previous winners, organizers said Monday, announcing a 20-percent cut in the award because of the economic crisis. "At its meeting on June 11, 2012, the board of directors of the Nobel Foundation set the amount of the 2012 Nobel Prizes at 8.0 million Swedish kronor (900,800 euros, $1.13 million) per prize," the foundation said in a statement. That meant it was effectively lowering the prize sum from the 10 million kronor that has been given for each award since 2001, the statement added. The move was "a necessary measure in order to avoid an undermining of its capital in a long-term perspective", said the statement. At its meeting on June 11, 2012, the Board of Directors of the Nobel Foundation set the amount of the 2012 Nobel Prizes at SEK 8.0 million per prize, at today's exchange rate equivalent to USD 1.1 million. This implies a lowering of the prize sum by 20 per cent. The Nobel Foundation regards this as a necessary measure in order to avoid an undermining of its capital in a long-term perspective.
“We have made the assessment that it is important to implement necessary measures in good time,” says Lars Heikensten, executive director of the Nobel Foundation. It appears the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, which is not technically a Nobel Prize, is being downsized, too. One of the most important tasks of the Nobel Foundation is to safeguard the economic base of the Nobel Prize. The capital left behind by Alfred Nobel must therefore be managed in such a way that it will be possible to award the Nobel Prize in perpetuity, while guaranteeing the independence of the prize-awarding institutions. Another part of the picture is that during the past decade, the average return on the Foundation's capital has fallen short of the overall sum of all Nobel Prizes and operating expenses. The Nobel Foundation says it's cutting the amount of money it awards to Nobel Prize winners because of the economic crisis. The foundation says poor economic conditions in recent years have meant the returns it receives on its capital have not kept pace with its costs. Nobel Prize winners are to receive a smaller cash sum in future, after a cut to prize winnings was announced. The foundation said the returns on its capital had not grown at the same rate as its costs, and that future winners would receive $1.1m (£700,000). The money that prize winners are awarded with was donated by the chemist Alfred Nobel in his will.
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