Anyone who has ever been on a judging panel (and many of us writers have) know that taste, conscious or unconscious interest and competing egos are usually enough to make deciding any prize a nightmare.

BBC: A Point Of View: And prizes for all

In 2009, when TED awarded me its TED prize and the opportunity to make a wish to change the world - -a wish they would help me fulfil l -- I thought of a mirror.

CNN: What if there's somebody else out there?

To be able to make drugs from its gene data, one biotech bought a Nobel Prize winner's company.

FORBES: Magazine Article

To be able to make drugs from its gene data, one biotech bought a company founded by Nobel Prize winner K. Barry Sharpless.

FORBES: Biotech Topples The Ivory Tower

So even if Rory could make more in prize money on the PGA Tour, it would only be a small fraction of his overall earnings.

FORBES: After U.S. Open Win, Rory McIlroy Still Financially Better Off Playing In Europe

Rooney, who has already scored 34 goals for his club this term, is favourite to capture the PFA prize and make it the fourth successive year it has gone to a United player.

BBC: Man Utd striker Wayne Rooney shortlisted for PFA award

With a twist of his wrist, the Pulitzer Prize-winning critic rendered decisions that influenced a nation of moviegoers and could sometimes make or break a film.

NPR: Ebert, Nation's Best-Known Film Critic, Dies At 70

The prize is presented to a living person, institution and active public or private bodies that make a significant contribution to defending, disseminating and embodying the values that were the foundations of Henri La Fountain's life and career in support of universal knowledge, international law and democracy.

UNESCO: Apply for UNESCO Prizes

Alfred Nobel was tasked with figuring out how to stabilise nitroglycerine to make it safe enough to handle, wrote author Burton Feldman in The Nobel Prize : A History of Genius , Controversy and Prestige.

BBC: Sweden��s Nobel gift to the world