Prize

UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize

Closed for applications

Created in 1997, the annual UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize honours people or organisations for outstanding contributions to the defence and promotion of press freedom, especially when this has been achieved in the face of danger.

Awarded annually on World Press Freedom Day, 3 May, the Prize helps to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of expression and media freedom to peace. Many of the previous laureates have endured imprisonment and suffering as a result of carrying out their jobs as journalists and photographers.

The Prize is named in honour of Guillermo Cano Isaza, a Colombian journalist who was assassinated in front of the offices of his newspaper El Espectador in Bogotá, Colombia on 17 December 1986. Guillermo Cano spent his career defending diversity of opinion and the circumstances of his death symbolise the price paid by journalists worldwide for exercising their profession.

Among those previously honoured are journalists Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone who are both serving seven-year prison sentences after being arrested when reporting on alleged human rights violations in Myanmar. Dawit Isaak, an imprisoned Eritrean-Swedish journalist, was chosen to receive the prize in 2017. Mr. Isaak was arrested in a crackdown on the media in Eritrea in September 2001. He has not been heard of since 2005 and his present location is unknown.

KEY INFO

Make sure you read the important information below before you apply for this prize. You must apply through the UK National Commission for UNESCO. Expressions of interest are welcome.

STATUS

Closed for applications

UKNC DEADLINE

15 January 2023

UNESCO DEADLINE

15 February 2023

WHO CAN APPLY

Individuals, institutions, other entities, NGOs

ORIGIN

Supported by the Guillermo Cano Isaza Foundation (Colombia) and the Helsingin Sanomat Foundation (Finland)

ESTABLISHED

1997

RENEWAL DATE

2022

AWARD

US$25,000

ROTATION

Annual

NEXT CALL DUE

2024

💌 Apply Today

Quote

‘If you have the opportunity to write, do it.’

Dawit Isaak 2017 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize

Quote

Read more about the Prize on UNESCO’s main site. Meet the Jury and past winners.

Meet the Jury
2020

Meet David Dembele, Marilu Mastrogiovanni, Wendy Funes, Hamid Mir, Alfred Lela, Gisèle Khoury, the 2020 members of the jury.

Jineth Bedoya Lima, Winner 2020
COLUMBIA

Jineth Bedoya Lima’s reporting has focused on the armed conflict and peace process in Colombia and on sexual violence against women.

Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone, Winners 2019
MYANMAR

Journalists Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone shared the Prize in 2019. Both Laureates are serving seven-year prison sentences. At the time of their arrest in Yangon on 12 December 2017, they were working for the Reuters news agency, reporting on alleged human rights violations in Myanmar’s state of Rakhine.

Mahmoud Abu Zeid,Winner 2018
EGYPT

Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, known as Shawkan, has been in jail since 14 August 2013 when he was arrested while covering a demonstration at Rabaa Al-Adawiya Square in Cairo.

Dawit Isaak, Winner 2017
ERITREA

Dawit Isaak, an imprisoned Eritrean-Swedish journalist, was arrested in a crackdown on the media that occurred in September 2001. The last time he was heard from was in 2005. His present location is unknown.