UNESCO Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize Laureate list of winners
Tomorrow the winner of UNESCO’s Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize will be announced. Here is the list of winners through 2022.
This article will be updated once the 2023 winner has been announced.
World Press Freedom Day is on 3 May, and UNESCO celebrates by awarding one journalist the Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. The organization does not publish the nominees that the jury selects from.
Who has won the prize in the past?
The first prize was awarded in 1997 to Chinese journalist Gao Yu who was prosecuted by the government for her coverage of the Tiananmen Square protests.
- 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)
Who does the name of the prize honor?
On 17 December 1986, outside of his workplace in Bogota Columbia, the newspaper El Espectador, Guillermo Cano Isaza, a journalist, was assassinated. Each year UNESCO recognizes the death of the writer and other members of the press who have been attacked, jailed, or even killed, for calling attention to injustice and challenging the powers that be. The winner is also given $25,000, which is provided by a number of foundations: Guillermo Cano Isaza Foundation (Colombia), the Helsingin Sanomat Foundation (Finland), Namibia Media Trust and Democracy & Media Foundation Stichting Democratie & Media.
This article will be updated once the 2023 winner has been announced.