President Obama was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize today. The first African-American to win the White House, Obama was praised by the Norweigan Nobel Committee for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” The announcement came as a surprise — Obama’s name had not been mentioned among front-runners — and reporters in the room gasped when he was named.

Here is what was said about The President at the announcement event:

“Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future,” the committee said. “His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population.”