Now Vladimir Putin is nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize! Russian leader follows Donald Trump, Greta Thunberg and Gemma Collins in being put forward for the award

Vladimir Putin has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The leader was put forward by a group of Russian writers led by Sergey Komkov, according to Russian news agency TASS.

They submitted the application in Oslo on September 10, putting him alongside Donald Trump in the list of potential candidates for the prestigious award.

A presidential spokesman said Putin, who was also nominated in 2013, was not put forward by the Kremlin. 

The favourite to win this year's Peace Prize is the World Health Organisation, with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Greta Thunberg also fancied.

Vladimir Putin has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by a group of Russian writers

Donald Trump was nominated by Christian Tybring-Gjedde, an ultra-conservative member of the Norwegian Parliament

Nominations can be submitted by anyone who meets the Nobel Committee's criteria, which includes lawmakers anywhere in the world, professors and academic groups.

Trump was nominated by Christian Tybring-Gjedde, an ultra-conservative member of the Norwegian Parliament, who praised Trump for brokering a deal between the UAE and Israel.

Reality star Gemma Collins was put forward by two YouTube pranksters, who have started up The Romford Research Institute For Peace to make themselves qualify to have the power to nominate. 

Greta Thunberg is hotly tipped for the prestigious award for her work in raising awareness of the climate crisis

Reality star Gemma Collins was put forward by two YouTube pranksters, who have started up The Romford Research Institute For Peace to make themselves qualify to have the power to nominate

It comes as it was also revealed on Thursday that winners of the Nobel prizes will receive an extra 1 million Swedish krona ($110,000) this year. 

The head of the foundation which oversees the awards said the prize money will increase to 10 million crowns this year ($1.1 million), daily Dagens Industri reported.

Lars Heikensten said: 'The decision has been made due to the fact that our costs and capital are in a stable relation in a completely different way than previously.'

Dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel left around 31 million crowns - about 1.8 billion crowns in today's money according to the Foundation - to fund the prizes, which have been awarded since 1901.

The prize amount has varied over time, starting at 150,000 crowns and reaching 1 million crowns in 1981. 

The value rose sharply in the 1980s and 1990s, jumping to 9 million crowns in 2000 and 10 million a year later.

Winners of the Nobel prizes will receive an extra 1 million Swedish krona (£86,000) for claiming the prestigious award

Dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel left around 31 million crowns - about 1.8 billion crowns in today's money according to the Foundation - to fund the prizes

How do you win a Nobel Peace Prize?

Nominations for a Nobel Peace Prize are relatively easy to acquire; an actual prize is more elusive.

Anyone elected to a national parliament, congress or assembly anywhere in the world, any cabinet minister anywhere in the world, professors of history, theology and religion, former prize winners and members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee are just some of the people who can all nominate whoever they like.

But the five-strong Nobel committee hold the real power. 

They do not confirm who has actually been nominated - the list is kept secret for 50 years - then whittle down the hundreds of nominations to a shortlist which they review more thoroughly, then decide a winner.

The five members all serve six-year terms and are supposed to reflect the balance of the membership of the Norwegian parliament. Tybring-Gjedde's party is too small to get a seat; two members are former politicians from the left-leaning Labour Party, and one from the center-right Center Party.

Their deliberations are secret and the winner - decided by a majority vote - is announced next October.

But the global credit crunch of 2008-9 hit the Foundation's investments and Heikensten, a former central bank chief, was brought in to get its finances in order.

The prize money was cut to 8 million crowns in 2012 only to rise again to 9 million in 2017.

Heikensten will step down at the end of this year to be replaced by former Norwegian foreign minister Vidar Helgesen.

He said the Foundation would continue to raise the amount of the prize money 'from time to time'. 

Medals made before 1980 were struck in 23-carat gold, and later in 18-carat green gold plated with a 24-carat gold coating.

Five awards are handed out to laureates every year, in peace, literature, chemistry, physics and medicine. 

An additional award for economics was also set up in 1968 as a Nobel Memorial prize, but as it was not one of the categories established by Alfred Nobel in his will, it does not officially count as a Nobel Prize.

This year, Donald Trump has been nominated for the prize in the wake of diplomatic breakthroughs between Israel and Gulf Arab countries. 

The US President was nominated for a second time for his work in securing a deal between Kosovo and Serbia, two former Balkan war foes.

Swedish parliament member Magnus Jacobsson tweeted that he nominated the governments of the United States, Serbia and Kosovo 'for their joint work for peace and economic development, through the cooperation agreement signed in the White House. Trade and communications are important building blocks for peace.'

Serbian President Aleksander Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti signed an economic normalization deal at the White House last week that also calls for Belgrade to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and for mutual recognition by Israel and Kosovo.

Trump has been nominated twice for a Nobel Peace Prize - for his work in securing a deal between Kosovo and Serbia, and for diplomatic breakthroughs in the Middle East

THE NOBEL PRIZES 

Pictured is a statue of Swedish inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel

Nobel prizes were initially awarded in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace.

In 1969, another prize was added, The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.

Medicine is the first of the Nobel Prizes awarded each year.

The Nobel Laureates are announced annually at the beginning of October.

They are honoured in December, on the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death.

Winners receive their prizes from the Swedish King. 

All Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, except for the Nobel Peace Prize, which is awarded in Oslo, Norway. 

The prizes take their name from Swedish inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel.

During his life, he started 87 companies all over the world and amassed an incredible fortune. 

At the time of his death on December 10, 1896, he had 355 patents globally, including one for dynamite.

His will stipulated that the money should be used to establish prizes to award those who had done their best to benefit mankind.

The first Nobel Prizes were awarded in 1901, five years after Nobel's death.