Obama Accepts the Nobel Peace Prize

Nobel Peace Prize laureate, President Obama, smiles as he stands beside Nobel committee member Kaci Kullmann (centre) during the ceremony. In his acceptance speech, Obama said his accomplishments were slight compared with some previous laureates, such as Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela.

Barack and Michelle Obama receive a standing ovation as they enter the Oslo hall for the prize giving ceremony. Earlier in the day, while he signed the guest book at the Norwegian Nobel Institute, Michelle wondered whether her husband was writing a book judging by the length of his message.

An overview of the room at Oslo's City Hall. Obama is the third sitting American president to receive the award -- Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson were honored in 1906 and 1919 respectively -- which was established 108 years ago by Alfred Nobel, a wealthy chemist and investor of dynamite.

The president faced a tricky task of reconciling the revered honor with his recent decision to send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan. He said, "I do not bring with me today a definitive solution to the problems of war. What I do know is that meeting these challenges will require the same vision, hard work and persistence of those men and women who acted so boldly decades ago. And it will require us to think in new ways about the notions of just war and the imperatives of a just peace."

The Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Thorbjoern Jagland (left) hands the diploma and medal to the newest Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Obama was given the prize in October for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples."