Nobel Committee Turned to Twitter to Find Winner

A 16-year-old won this year's Nobel Peace Prize, but, no, it wasn't Malala. Instead, the honor goes to the group currently at work trying to get rid of Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons in Syria—the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, or OPCW, reports the LA Times. The UN-backed group, based in the Hague, formed in 1997 to enforce the first international treaty against chemical weapons, reports the AP. “Disarmament figures prominently in Alfred Nobel's will,” explains Thorbjorn Jagland, chair of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee.

He also took a mild shot at the US and Russia in his statement, noting that neither has eliminated its chemical stockpiles yet. The OPCW will get $1.25 million at the December ceremony, the New York Times reports. Best part of today's announcement: The Nobel panel had to resort to Twitter to try to notify the group, reports Business Insider. First tweet, before the announcement: "@OPCW Please contact us @Nobelprize_org we are trying get through to your office." The second: "The live webcast is now over. We are still trying to reach @OPCW." (More Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons stories.)