UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize

Cano was a vocal critic of the country's powerful drug barons. Each year, an independent jury of six news professionals selected by the UNESCO Director-General selects a winner from the many nominations submitted by non-governmental organizations working in the field of press freedom, and by UNESCO Member States. The jury remains in charge for a period of three years, renewable once. The anti-mafia Italian journalist Marilù Mastrogiovanni serves as chair of the jury as of 2021. On PBS (2018)

align="center" • Year — Recipient — Country • 1997 — Gao Yu — ChinaChina • 1998 — Christina Anyanwu — NigeriaNigeria • 1999 — Jesús Blancornelas — MexicoMexico • 2000 — Nizar Nayyouf — SyriaSyria • 2001 — Win Tin — MyanmarMyanmar • 2002 — Geoffrey Nyarota — ZimbabweZimbabwe • 2003 — Amira Hass — IsraelIsrael • 2004 — Raúl Rivero — CubaCuba • 2005 — Cheng Yizhong — ChinaChina • 2006 — May Chidiac — LebanonLebanon • 2007 — Anna Politkovskaya — RussiaRussia (posthumous award) • 2008 — Lydia Cacho Ribeiro — MexicoMexico • 2009 — Lasantha Wickrematunge — Sri LankaSri Lanka (posthumous award) • 2010 — Mónica González Mujica — ChileChile • 2011 — Ahmad Zeidabadi — IranIran • 2012 — Eynulla Fatullayev — AzerbaijanAzerbaijan • 2013 — Reeyot Alemu — EthiopiaEthiopia • 2014 — Ahmet Şık — TurkeyTurkey • 2015 — Mazen Darwish — SyriaSyria • 2016 — Khadija Ismayilova — AzerbaijanAzerbaijan • 2017 — Dawit Isaak — SwedenEritreaSweden/Eritrea • 2018 — Mahmoud Abu Zeid — EgyptEgypt • 2019 — Kyaw Soe Oo & Wa Lone — MyanmarMyanmar • 2020 — Jineth Bedoya Lima — ColombiaColombia • 2021 — Maria Ressa — PhilippinesPhilippines • 2022 — Belarusian Association of Journalists — BelarusBelarus • 2023 — Niloofar Hamedi, Elaheh Mohammadi, Narges Mohammadi — IranIran • 2024 — Palestinian journalists covering Gaza — PalestinePalestine • 2025 — La Prensa newspaper — NicaraguaNicaragua • 2026 — Sudanese Journalists Syndicate — SudanSudan