[chki]

Doesn't the premature nature and the ensuing criticism of the Obama peace prize show exactly how highly regarded the peace prize is? If the prize wasn't very prestigious people wouldn't care.

Now you could argue that those "wrong" nominations in the last year's have tarnished the peace prize "brand" so much that is no longer valuable. I would say that is in itself somewhat premature and since it's the most political prize there will always be controversy attached.