The UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, created in 1997, honours a person, organization or institution that has made an outstanding contribution to the defence and/or promotion of press freedom anywhere in the world, especially when this has been achieved in the face of danger.
The prize, worth US$ 25,000, is awarded each year on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day on 3 May.
The prize is named after Guillermo Cano Isaza, the editor of the Colombian newspaper El Espectador, who was murdered in Bogotá on 17 December 1986. Cano was a vocal critic of the country's powerful drug barons.
Each year, an independent jury of six news professionals selected by the UNESCO Director-General selects a winner from the many nominations submitted by non-governmental organizations working in the field of press freedom, and by UNESCO Member States. The jury remains in charge for a period of three years, renewable once.
The anti-mafia Italian journalist Marilù Mastrogiovanni serves as Chair of the jury as of 2021. Other members of the Jury are:
- Wendy Funes (Honduras), investigative journalist;
- David Dembele (Mali), Editor-in-chief of the Depêche du Mali/L’Investigateur;
- Hamid Mir (Pakistan), Executive Editor of Geo Television Pakistan;
- Alfred Lela (Albania), Political Analyst on News 24 and Founder and Director of Politiko;
- Zainab Salbi (Iraq), As a journalist, she created and hosted several shows including: #MeToo, Now What? on PBS (2018)
Award Winners
| Year | Recipient | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Gao Yu |  China
|
| 1998 | Christina Anyanwu |  Nigeria
|
| 1999 | Jesús Blancornelas |  Mexico
|
| 2000 | Nizar Nayyouf |  Syria
|
| 2001 | Win Tin |  Myanmar
|
| 2002 | Geoffrey Nyarota |  Zimbabwe
|
| 2003 | Amira Hass |  Israel
|
| 2004 | Raúl Rivero |  Cuba
|
| 2005 | Cheng Yizhong | China
|
| 2006 | May Chidiac |  Lebanon
|
| 2007 | Anna Politkovskaya |  Russia (posthumous award)
|
| 2008 | Lydia Cacho Ribeiro | Mexico
|
| 2009 | Lasantha Wickrematunge |  Sri Lanka (posthumous award)
|
| 2010 | Mónica González Mujica |  Chile
|
| 2011 | Ahmad Zeidabadi |  Iran
|
| 2012 | Eynulla Fatullayev |  Azerbaijan
|
| 2013 | Reeyot Alemu |  Ethiopia
|
| 2014 | Ahmet Şık |  Turkey
|
| 2015 | Mazen Darwish | Syria
|
| 2016 | Khadija Ismayilova | Azerbaijan
|
| 2017 | Dawit Isaak |   Sweden/Eritrea
|
| 2018 | Mahmoud Abu Zeid |  Egypt
|
| 2019 | Kyaw Soe Oo & Wa Lone | Myanmar
|
| 2020 | Jineth Bedoya Lima |  Colombia
|
| 2021 | Maria Ressa |  Philippines
|
| 2022 | Belarusian Association of Journalists |  Belarus
|
| 2023 | Niloofar Hamedi, Elaheh Mohammadi, Narges Mohammadi | Iran
|
| 2024 | Palestinian journalists covering Gaza |  Palestine
|
See also
References
- "The Jury". UNESCO. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
- "Two leading women journalists to join 2021 Jury of the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize". UNESCO. 15 January 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
- "World Press Freedom Day 3 May in Tunis". Afrique en ligne. 24 April 2012.
- "Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, aka Shawkan, to receive 2018 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano Press Freedom Prize". 23 April 2018.
- "Jailed Reuters reporters, U.S. border photographers win Pulitzer Prizes". Reuters. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
- "Embattled Philippine journalist wins UN press prize". Yahoo! News. Agence France-Presse. 27 April 2021. Archived from the original on 27 April 2021. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
- "Three imprisoned Iranian women journalists awarded 2023 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize". UNESCO. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
- "Palestinian journalists covering Gaza awarded 2024 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize". UNESCO. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
External links
| UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize laureates | |
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