Peace Prize? You too can be nominated.

A little-known rule of journalese requires that a story about anyone the reporter admires must note that he or she has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. AP followed this rule in a Nov. 9, 2019, story. See lede below. Sounds like a great achievement, almost as fine as a Hollywood Academy Award nomination. Except stories never mention that anyone can be nominated for the Peace Prize. All you need is a friendly professor or congressman or parliament member or a national institute or a top politician. There’s a long list of people who can submit nominations. Check ’em out at https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/peace/.

That’s why you’ll find, among peace-makers over the years, nominees as Stalin, Mussolini, Castro, Mao, the Kims of North Korea, all kinds of Middle East tyrants, and heck, even Rudy Giuliani, nominated by a Swede for his work in combatting crime in New York. Bet you never seen him identified as a Peace Prize nominee. Oh, yeah, Trump and pal Putin have been nominated, too, of course. Hey, they could share it!

Here’s the AP story lede, about a mural of Greta:
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg is staring down at pedestrians in the heart of San Francisco where an artist is painting a massive mural of the Nobel Peace Prize nominee.

File under: Don’t let details kill a Peace Prize nomination story.