Burcum: Minneapolis for the Nobel Prize? Heck yes, and don’t be bashful.

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A Nobel Peace Prize for Minneapolis? I say heck yes, knowing full well that this immodest boosterism is darn near heretical in Minnesota.

Politeness is hardwired into the North Star State. We famously don’t take the last doughnut in the box a colleague shares with the office. “That’s interesting” is about the worst we’ll say about someone’s dubious hairstyle or choice of attire. Our goodbyes can extend 30 minutes or more to make sure we don’t offend someone by leaving too quickly.

Boasting simply isn’t in our nature. But this is an extraordinary moment, one that demands we temporarily cast aside our northern manners and toot our own horns for a change.

The Nation, a monthly progressive magazine, has nominated “the people of Minneapolis” for the Nobel Peace Prize, praising resistance to the Trump administration’s immigration and deportation campaign.

In a letter addressed to the Norwegian Nobel Committee posted in late January, the publication cites mass peaceful protests and moral leadership. It contends that Minneapolis has embodied the Nobel standard of promoting democracy, human rights and human dignity, and set an example for those resisting authoritarianism worldwide.

Armed and masked agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as well as Border Patrol roamed our streets. Two Minnesotans died. At one point Vice President JD Vance claimed these agents had “absolute immunity,” though he has since backtracked on that.

Minnesotans didn’t cower in fear. They took to the streets, sometimes in bathrobes, with their phones to document abuses, bringing receipts to demands for accountability. We also came together to help neighbors too fearful to leave their homes to get groceries.

And we did all this in a brutal stretch of subzero weather. We hauled out the hand warmers, the Carhartt coveralls and Sorel snow boots and acted like it was no big deal to protest at minus 20 degrees.

The CIA couldn’t have designed a better “psy op.” Imagine being an immigration agent from a southern state, where parkas come out anytime it dips below 50 degrees, and watching Minnesotans shrug off the Arctic temps.

Minnesotans deserve this nomination. So how does this process work? And what are our chances?

Still, a major caveat is that a city has never won before. I cruised through more than a century of previous winners listed on the Nobel website. The first Peace Prize was awarded in 1901, but it’s gone to individuals or organizations such as the Red Cross.

While the Norwegian Nobel Committee looks to have some flexibility, such as adding names of those who were not nominated, stated eligibility rules give further pause about a city’s inclusion.

“All living persons and active organizations or institutions are eligible candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize,” the Nobel website states. Cities aren’t explicitly ruled out, but it’s unclear if they can be ruled in as “active organization or institution.”

I was also worried about the nomination by The Nation after taking a close look at the relatively narrow list of qualified nominators. Generally, it includes heads of state, members of national governments and assemblies and members of other elite institutions.

But also eligible are university professors “of history, social sciences, law, philosophy, theology, and religion; university rectors and university directors (or their equivalents); directors of peace research institutes and foreign policy institutes.”

The committee doesn’t publicly share who has been nominated until 50 years have passed. But it’s safe to say that Minneapolis will face stiff competition, as it should. In 2025, the Norwegian Nobel Institute “registered a total of 338 candidates for the 2025 peace prize, of which 244 are individuals and 94 are organizations.”

The highest number of nominations came in 2016, when there were 376 contenders.

The Peace Prize winner or winners are chosen in October and receive the prize in a December ceremony in Oslo. The work to narrow the field begins in February and March, when a shortlist is developed.

The peaceful defiance playing out in the metro will certainly be fresh in the minds of the five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee. That’s helpful.

The Nation has worked to raise its nomination profile in Norway, hoping to draw the Nobel committee members’ attention it. The spokeswoman shared an example of press coverage there. Maybe Minnesotans who speak Norwegian or have cultural ties could wield their influence, too.

It’s easy to add your name. Just go to tinyurl.com/SignNobelPetition. I’m not sure how helpful it is, but it certainly can’t hurt.

And if a Norwegian Nobel Committee member happens to read this column (you never know), I’d add this to the list of reasons why Minneapolis should win: