The International Press Institute’s 60 World Press Freedom Heroes were honoured on Tuesday night at Vienna City Hall in a ceremony also marking IPI’s 60th year defending press freedom around the world.

Of the full 60 IPI World Press Freedom Heroes, 20 were able to attend last night’s ceremony, together with hundreds of participants in IPI’s 60th World Congress, held this year in Vienna and Bratislava from 11 to 14 September.

The names of 30 IPI heroes, who have already passed away – eight of them in the line of duty – were read out by IPI Acting Director, Alison Bethel McKenzie, followed by a moment of silence in their memory.

Ten of the awarded journalists were unable to attend the IPI ceremony, including Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez, whose exit visa application was delayed, making it impossible for her to travel to the IPI event; and Mexican investigative journalist Lydia Cacho, known for her exposure of violence against women, who had to be hospitalized a few days before her planned trip to Vienna.

“As a journalist myself, I am deeply humbled to share the stage with such shining examples of our profession” said IPI Acting Director introducing the heroes.

IPI’s first 50 World Press Freedom Heroes were honoured at IPI’s 50th anniversary, celebrated in Boston, USA in the year 2000. Four of the additional ten heroes, who were selected by an international IPI jury in the course of the past ten years, attended yesterday’s award ceremony and addressed the audience. They were: Turkish journalist Nedim Şener, who has been persecuted following the publication of his book on the murder of Hrant Dink; Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji, declared an IPI World Press Freedom in recognition of his decades of work defending freedom of speech, in the face of continued harassment and imprisonment; Gambian publisher and editor Pap Saine, arrested, criminally charged and imprisoned because of his reporting; Lebanese anchor May Chidiac , known for her criticism of Syria’s political sway over Lebanon, who nearly lost her life in an assassination attempt in September 2005, which left her badly injured.

Addressing IPI Congress participants during the award ceremony, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatovic said: “These people, along with other press heroes, represent thousands of members of the media worldwide whose jobs put them in harm’s way in the cause of an open and democratic society.

“They deserve our admiration for their courage to tell the truth and make our societies freer even in the situations where their life is at stake.”

Also awarded in the course of the evening at Vienna’s City Hall were the three foundations, which supported the founding of IPI in 1950: The Ford Foundation, the Canergie Endowment for International Peace and the Rockefeller Foundation. Representatives of the Ford Foundation and The Carnegie Endowment were able to collect the award personally.

“Since the founding of this organization, we have always been committed clearly and steadfastly to one goal: safeguarding freedom of expression and freedom of the press,” said Bethel McKenzie.

Finally, IPI handed over an award for Lifetime Commitment to Press Freedom to IPI member Raymond Louw of South Africa. Louw “was nominated by several people to become a press freedom hero himself but humbly declined,” noted Bethel McKenzie.