On January 22, the Nils Klim Committee met remotely to discuss the nominations for the 2021 Nils Klim Prize. The Prize is awarded annually to a scholar under the age of 35, for outstanding contributions to research in the humanities, social sciences, law or theology. The recipient must be a citizen of a Nordic country.

Due to the pandemic related challenges that the last year has seen, the Holberg Board had decided to include the 2020 nominations for consideration this year. Consequently, a total of 29 candidates were considered, which is a record for any one year.    

There were many strong candidates for the 2021 Prize, but a unanimous decision was reached, and the Committee put forward their recommendation to the Holberg Board. The Board will convene on 2 February and decide on the recipient of the 2021 Holberg Prize and Nils Klim Prize, respectively.

Committee Members

The Nils Klim Committee meeting was attended by the following members: 

•    Ástráður Eysteinsson, Professor of Comparative Literature, University of Iceland. (Acting Committee Chair)
•    Auli Vähäkangas, Professor of Pastoral Theology and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Theology, University of Helsinki.
•    Xavier Groussot, Professor of EU Law and Pro Dean at the Faculty of Law, Lund University.
•    Grete Brochmann, Professor at the Department of Sociology and Human Development, University of Oslo.

Permanent Committee Chair Dorthe Staunæs, Professor of Social Psychology at Aarhus University, had recused herself.

Announcement

The announcement of the 2021 Holberg Prize and Nils Klim will be made on 5 March, from 15:00 CET. This year, the event will be virtual and streamed on the Holberg Prize website and on YouTube.

Nominate a Candidate 

Scholars holding positions at universities and other research institutions are entitled to nominate candidates for the Nils Klim Prize. The nomination form for 2022 will be available shortly. The nominaton deadline is 15 June. More information can be found here.