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The granddaddy of all annual awards? It just may be the Nobel Prizes, a set of awards designed to award achievement in science, literature, and, in perhaps the category most widely identified with the awards in the mainstream, the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Peace Prize has been a bit of a weirdy ever since Albert Nobel, upon leaving specifications for the awards in his will, defined the peace prize as one going “to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”

Wikipedia notes the Peace nod is at odds with the other half-dozen Nobels annually given, for “Unlike the other Nobel Prizes, which recognize completed scientific or literary accomplishment, the Nobel Peace Prize may be awarded to persons or organizations that are in the process of resolving a conflict or creating peace.”

The online know-it-all’s entry goes on to lament that the award has become increasingly politicized – How else to explain winners like F.W. de Klerk, Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, Al Gore, and especially Henry Kissinger? – but, hey, we’re here to discuss the plausability of nominees and quite possibly the opportunity to make a few Euros here.

A few matters to keep in mind, then. First, when Paddy Power (and presumably any other bookmaker covering this prop) states “Dead Heat Rules May Apply,” trust the Os Man when he advises that you bone up on the house rules: Ten of the last 16 Nobel Peace awards have been given to multiple nominees.

Also, the committee keeps all nominations secret for a period of 50 years. We do know that some 205 names – a new record – were put forth for 2009, and that among the nominees were US president Barack Obama (currently at 18/1 to win the Peace Prize), France/EU president Nicolas Sarkozy (20/1) and most of those listed below. More advice: Forget the former two, consider many of the below closely.

Bios on some favorite individuals and organizations are listed below with Paddy Power odds; entities have gotten Nobels in seven of the past 14 years.

• Hu Jia (5/1): In China, Hu is certainly considered quite a triple threat, what with his activist work in environmentalism, the “pro-democracy” movement, and HIV/AIDS. Hu has been in prison (shocker, that) since April 2008 and was awarded the European Parliament’s Human Rights prize in December.

• Thich Quang Do (6/1): Do is still listed as the prospective new head of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, a banned religion in that country. For his launch of the “Appeal for Democracy in Vietnam,” Do was placed under house arrest in July 2001 and remains under this status, though he did escape once to be by the bedside of dying church leader Thich Huyen Quang last July. Do reportedly received multiple nominations for the Nobel in 2008.

• Lidia Yusupova (8/1): A Russian born in Chechnia, Yusupova has devoted herself to legal representation in human rights cases since 2000. BBC News once declared her “the bravest woman in Europe.” Yusupova’s human rights group Memorial has also been nominated for a Nobel, though Paddy Power has posted no odds on the organization. (Keep an eye out; might be a decent longshot.)

• Ingrid Betancourt (8/1) was rescued by Colombian militia in July 2008 after being held hostage by “Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia” (a.k.a. FARC) troops for some 6-1/2 years. The crime for which she was FARCed? Seeking to run for the position of Colombian president in the Green Party. This might make a nice winner for those committee members seeking to use their vote to speak environmentally as well as politically.

• The Cluster Munitions Coalition (10/1). CMC is an international organization devoted to the elimination of cluster munitions (i.e. cluster bombs, a particularly nasty old specialty of the USAF). CMC managed to get some 94 countries to sign an agreement banning such, but only four have ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions to date. A Peace Prize might goose the movement a bit.

• Mwai Kibaki, Raila Odinga, and the African Union (12/1): If those two warmongers Kibaki and Odinga manage to finagle their way into this prize along with the infinitely more deserving African Union which desperately tried to solve their conflict, well, it would be another 1973, wouldn’t it?

• SOS-Kinderdorf International (12/1): Probably the largest international NGO focused on children’s rights and at-risk youth’s care, this Peace Prize is already overdue. SOS was founded in 1949 and today works in 132 countries.

• The Peace Jam Foundation (25/1): A leading nominee in the environmental sphere, US-based Peace Jam reportedly has some 12 Peace Prize winners in their corner; the organization was nominated for the prize in 2007 with the backing of six former Peace Laureates.

• Greenpeace (40/1): Haven’t they pissed too many people off?

• Esperanto (50/1): Vi ne’stas gravo. (Lit. you’re not serious.)