The Golden Pen of Freedom Award is an annual international journalism award established in 1961, given by the World Association of Newspapers to individuals or organisations. The stated purpose of the award is "to recognise the outstanding action, in writing or deed, of an individual, a group or an institution in the cause of press freedom". One of the objectives of the award is "to turn the spotlight of public attention on repressive governments and journalists who fight them" and to afford journalists a degree of protection against further persecution.
The Award is presented each year at the opening ceremony of the World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum.
Award winners
| Year | Winner | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1961 | Ahmet Emin Yalman | Turkey |
| 1963 | Guardian Sein Win | Burma |
| 1964 | Gabriel Makoso | Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| 1965 | Esmond Wickremesing | Sri Lanka |
| 1966 | Jules Dubois | USA |
| 1967 | Mochtar Lubis | Indonesia |
| 1968 | Christos Lambrakis | Greece |
| 1969 | The Czechoslovak press | Czechoslovakia |
| 1970 | Alberto Gainza Paz | Argentina |
| 1972 | Hubert Beuve-Méry | France |
| 1973 | Anton Betz | Germany |
| 1974 | Julio de Mesquita Neto | Brazil |
| 1975 | Sang-Man Kim | South Korea |
| 1976 | Raul Régo | Portugal |
| 1977 | Robert High Lilley | Northern Ireland |
| 1978 | Donald Woods, Percy Qoboza | South Africa |
| 1979 | Claude Bellanger (posthumous) | France |
| 1980 | Jacobo Timerman | Argentina |
| 1981 | José Javier Uranga | Spain |
| 1982 | P. Joaquin Chamorro Barrios | Nicaragua |
| 1985 | Joaquin Roces | Philippines |
| 1986 | Anthony Heard | South Africa |
| 1987 | Juan Pablo Cárdenas | Chile |
| 1988 | Naji al-Ali (posthumous) | Palestinian territories |
| 1989 | Sergei Grigoryants | Soviet Union |
| 1990 | Luis Gabriel Cano | Colombia |
| 1991 | Gitobu Imanyara | Kenya |
| 1992 | Dai Qing | China |
| 1993 | Pius Njawe | Cameroon |
| 1994 | Omar Belhouchet | Algeria |
| 1995 | Gao Yu | China |
| 1996 | Yndamiro Restano Díaz | Cuba |
| 1997 | Naša borba, Feral Tribune, Oslobođenje | Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzogovina |
| 1998 | Doan Viet Hoat | Vietnam |
| 1999 | Faraj Sarkohi | Iran |
| 2000 | Nizar Nayouf | Syria |
| 2001 | Win Tin, San San Nweh | Burma |
| 2002 | Geoffrey Nyarota | Zimbabwe |
| 2003 | Belarusian Association of Journalists | Belarus |
| 2004 | Ruslan Sharipov | Uzbekistan |
| 2005 | Mahjoub Mohamed Salih | Sudan |
| 2006 | Akbar Ganji | Iran |
| 2007 | Shi Tao | China |
| 2008 | Li Changqing | China |
| 2009 | Najam Sethi | Pakistan |
| 2010 | Ahmad Zeidabadi | Iran |
| 2011 | Dawit Isaak | Eritrea/Sweden |
| 2012 | Anabel Hernández | México |
| 2013 | Than Htut Aung | Myanmar |
| 2014 | Eskinder Nega | Ethiopia |
| 2015 | Journalists killed in the line of duty | Worldwide |
| 2016 | Dmitry Muratov | Russia |
| 2017 | Can Dündar | Turkey |
| 2018 | Maria Ressa | Philippines |
| 2019 | Jamal Khashoggi | Saudi Arabia |
| 2020 | Jineth Bedoya Lima | Colombia |
| 2021 | Jimmy Lai, News Department of Apple Daily | Hong Kong |
| 2022 | Gazeta Wyborcza and the Gazeta Wyborcza Foundation | Poland |
| 2023 | Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi | Iran |
