Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan received their Nobel Prize one year later, in 1977. During the selection process in 1976, the Norwegian Nobel Committee decided that none of the year's nominations met the criteria as outlined in the will of Alfred Nobel. According to the Nobel Foundation's statutes, the Nobel Prize can in such a case be reserved until the following year, and this statute was then applied. Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan therefore received their Nobel Prize for 1976 one year later, in 1977.