It’s time again to honour the tremendous courage and innovation that keep independent journalism strong and able to speak truth to power.
The International Press Institute (IPI) and International Media Support (IMS) are proud to announce the call for nominations for this year’s World Press Freedom Hero Award and Free Media Pioneer Award.
Both awards will be presented during a special ceremony at IPI’s 2023 World Congress, which will take place May 25 and 26 in Vienna. Nominations must be received by March 7 (23:59 CEST). Award winners will be selected by a global expert jury.
BACKGROUND
The World Press Freedom Hero Award honours journalists who have made significant contributions to the promotion of press freedom, particularly in the face of great personal risk.
Last year’s Hero award was given jointly to El Salvador’s Carlos Dada, co-founder and director of El Faro, one of Latin America’s most prominent online investigative news outlets; and the late Shireen Abu Akleh, the Al Jazeera correspondent and pioneering figure for women in media in the Middle East who was killed while on assignment last May.
Other past recipients include Anna Politkovskaya, Katherine Graham, Hrant Dink, Mazen Darwish, and Lydia Cacho. See all past World Press Freedom Hero Award recipients.
The IPI-IMS Free Media Pioneer Award is presented to organizations meeting the demands of the moment through innovative models of journalism, media, or press freedom defence. They are opening up new ways of thinking about the free flow of information to strengthen independent journalism and meet the needs of their communities.
Last year’s award was presented to seven independent Ukrainian media outlets that rose to face head-on the challenges and dangers brought by Russia’s war of aggression: ABO, Hromadske, Slidstvo.info, StopFake, The Kyiv Independent, Ukraїner, and Ukrainska Pravda.
Other past recipients include Egyptian news website Mada Masr, the Philippines’s Rappler, Turkey’s Medyascope platform, and the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee. See all Free Media Pioneer award recipients.
HOW TO NOMINATE
IPI and IMS welcome nominations from around the world for the 2023 awards. Please send your nomination by March 7 (23:59 CEST) to [email protected] or [email protected] with the subject line “World Press Freedom Hero nomination” or “Free Media Pioneer nomination” together with a brief description of the person or organization you are nominating.
Nominations for the World Press Freedom Hero Award must be individuals. Nominations for the Free Media Pioneer Award can be individuals, teams, or news outlets or other media-related organizations, including organizations that defend press freedom.
We look forward to your nominations!
