We’re proud to announce that JA Worldwide has been nominated for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize.

Nobel Peace Prize nominations may be received from heads of state, certain elected officials and cabinet members, university professors in select fields, past Nobel laureates, and other notable individuals, as laid out by the Nobel Nominating Committee. A number of eligible advocates approached us about nominating JA Worldwide and, although the identity of each nominee officially remains anonymous for 50 years, we are thrilled to have been given evidence that we were nominated again this year. The organization was first nominated in 2022—in recognition for JA’s contribution to economic empowerment, prosperity, and peace—and has been nominated every year since.

In an increasingly polarized global environment, JA’s focus on entrepreneurship, economic empowerment, problem-solving, conflict resolution, and cross-cultural understanding continues to demonstrate what meaningful, durable contributions to peace can look like. As we’ve long believed, peace is sustained through opportunity, dignity, and shared prosperity, and through young people who are equipped to shape their futures and build thriving communities.

Through our century of impact, JA has operated in big cities, rural communities, and everywhere in between, including in areas of political instability, violence, and war. Even in refugee camps, students not only build resilience in the face of trauma and chaos, but also develop hope for their futures as job creators, leaders, and innovators who actively contribute to the peace of their communities.

Between 1901 and 2025, the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to 143 laureates, including 112 individuals and 31 organizations. Among those 31 organizations is another nonprofit from the annual list of the top ten social-good organizations, Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999. UNICEF, another youth-serving organization, was awarded the prize in 1965, after being nominated for a number of years. Last year, the Nobel Nominating Committee received 338 nominations, including 244 individuals and 94 organizations.