The festival day of the Nobel Foundation is on the 10th of December, the anniversary of the death of the testator. The Prize Award Ceremony for the Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine and Literature as well as for the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel - takes place at the Stockholm Concert Hall. At this event, His Majesty the King of Sweden, hands each Laureate a diploma, a medal and a document confirming the Prize amount, which in 1999 will total SEK 7.9 million (about USD 1 million) per full Prize.The Nobel Peace Prize is presented on the same day at the Oslo City Hall by the Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in the presence of the King of Norway.
The prize-awarding bodies decide the design of the diplomas. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences is responsible for the Physics and Chemistry diplomas, and since 1969 also for the Economic Sciences diploma. The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet is responsible for the Physiology or Medicine diploma, the Swedish Academy for the Literature diploma and the Norwegian Nobel Committee for the diploma presented to the winners of the Peace Prize. Nowadays, the "Swedish" diplomas have a uniform binding, provided by the bookbindery Fälth & Hässler (earlier Hässlers Bokbinderi). This was not the case initially, since the various prize committees decided the artistic design of the diplomas based on their own wishes and resources. The Refsum bookbinding firm was responsible for binding the "Norwegian" diplomas until 1986, when the bookbinding firm of Kjell-Roger Josefson took over.

The artistic design of the diplomas has varied over the years (see Register of artists), but the text has always followed the same pattern in the Swedish and Norwegian languages, respectively. The "Swedish" diplomas largely carry the same text, stating the person or persons to whom the prize-awarding body has decided to present the year’s Prize plus a citation explaining why. The Norwegian diploma, on the other hand, has never included a Prize citation.