This year's Nobel Peace Prize is expected to go to German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her response to the migrant crisis or US Secretary of State John Kerry for his efforts to help reach a nuclear deal with Iran.

From left: US Secretary of State John Kerry, former US intelligence officer Edward Snowden and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Photo: Reuters.

The Nobel Peace Prize is the most highly anticipated and most widely discussed of the six Nobel Prizes. It is also the prize awarded in Oslo, Norway, rather than Stockholm, Sweden, like the other five.

The list of nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize has been kept secret for 50 years. This year’s list includes 273 individuals and organizations. Some observers believe that this year’s prize will go to those who have taken action to ease Europe’s migrant crisis.

According to Kristian Berg Harpviken, head of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (Prio), German Chancellor Angela Merkel is an obvious choice. "Angela Merkel is truly a moral leader," AFP quoted him as saying.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Eritrean Catholic priest Mussie Zerai are also strong contenders, according to Nobeliana, a group of Nobel historians. UNHCR won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1954 and 1981, while Zerai has helped rescue migrants crossing the Mediterranean.

In July, Iran reached a historic nuclear deal with world powers, agreeing to scale back its nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of sanctions imposed on Tehran since 2006.

"I think the work at the Nobel Committee... will be much easier this year," former Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt said at the time.

The Nobel Peace Prize could therefore go to the architects of the deal, US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif, and possibly even to EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini or her predecessor Catherine Ashton, according to Peter Wallensteen, a professor at Uppsala University in Sweden.

The Nobel committee has in the past awarded the Peace Prize to praise anti-nuclear efforts on the anniversaries of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945.

The Nobel Peace Prizes of 1975, 1985, 1995 and 2005 were awarded to Soviet activist Andrei Sakharov, the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), Joseph Rotblat and the Pugwash movement, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its director Mohammed el-Baradei.

Other potential winners on this year's shortlist include Pope Francis for his commitment to social and environmental justice, and Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege, who has treated thousands of women who were raped in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

The fight for free speech may also be mentioned because of two attacks this year on the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris, France, and a conference on Islam and free speech in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Candidates in this field include Flemming Rose, a Dane who published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in Jyllands-Posten in 2005, imprisoned Saudi blogger Raif Badawi and former US intelligence officer Edward Snowden.

The 2015 Nobel Peace Prize will be officially announced at 11am (Oslo time, ie 4pm Hanoi time) on October 9.

According to VnExpress