Dates for the 2012 Nobel Prize announcements

The winners of the 2012 Nobel Prizes are to be announced next week, with no clear frontrunners yet seen for the much-talked about Peace and Literature Prizes and suspense and speculation mount.

Betting sites have become a popular feature of the Nobel guessing game in recent years, with gamers sometimes surprisingly accurate, even suspiciously so.

Chinese author Mo Yan and Japan’s Haruki Murakami share the top spots on two Swedish betting sites a week ahead of the expected announcement of the Nobel Literature Prize, while Coptic Christian Maggie Gobran of Egypt who helps the poor in Cairo’s slums tops the one Swedish site taking bets for the Peace Prize.

Here are the dates for this year’s prize announcements:

# Monday, October 8, 1500 IST at the earliest: Nobel Medicine Prize

# Tuesday, October 9, 1515 IST at the earliest: Nobel Physics Prize

# Wednesday, October 10, 1515 IST at the earliest: Nobel Chemistry Prize

# Thursday, October 11: Possible date for the Nobel Literature Prize. The Swedish Academy only announces the date of the announcement a few days in advance, but it is traditionally on a Thursday at 1630 IST.

# Friday, October 12, 1430 IST: Nobel Peace Prize

# Monday, October 15, 1630 IST at the earliest: Nobel Economics Prize.