Malia and Sasha Obama woke up to some very exciting news this morning - Their dad, President Barack Obama was named the winner of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, the world's most prestigious honor, awarded annually, to a person who has done the most or the best work to promote peace in the world.

The news came as a big surprise to everyone, even the Obama family, since Mr. Obama has been in office for less than nine months and had been President for only two weeks prior to the February 1st nominationdeadline.

However, the Peace Prize Committee decided that he deserved the honor because of all the progress he has made in trying to promote peace and harmony among all world nations again.

President Obama is only the third US President to receive the award while still in office. Theodore Roosevelt won it in 1906 for helping end the war between the Soviet Union and Japan and Woodrow Wilson in 1919, for his role in founding the League of Nations.

Former President Jimmy Carter and former Vice President Al Gore have also been recipients, but both were out of office when they became Nobel Lauraetes.

To accept the award, President Obama will have to fly to Oslo, Norway on December 10th (the death anniversary of Alfred Nobel), where he will be presented with a diploma, a medal and a certificate with the stipulated prize amount. The following day, he will be the guest of honor at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert, which features some of the world's most famous entertainers and is broadcast on live television all over the world.

The Nobel Prize established by Norwegian Inventor, Alfred Nobel is an annual award that honors outstanding achievements by human beings all over the world. Besides, Peace, prizes are also awarded in four other categories - Physics, Chemistry, Literature and Medicine. Winners receive a medal and a sum of money - which often exceeds a million US dollars. While this is great, it is the prestige the award brings that most Laureates ca care about - for while there are plenty of other awards, the Nobel Prize remains the one everybody wants the most! Congratulations Prez!

sources: dailymail.co.uk, wikipedia.org,wisegeek.com,nobelprize.org.