Every year on 3rd May, the annual UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize honors a person, organization or institution that has made an outstanding contribution to the defense and, or promotion of press freedom anywhere in the world, and especially when this has been achieved in the face of danger.
Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize was created in 1997 and is formally conferred by the Director-General of the Organization, on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, on 3 May.
The prize is named in honor of Guillermo Cano Isaza, a Colombian journalist who was assassinated in front of the offices of his newspaper El Espectador in Colombia on 17 December 1986.
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He had served as the editor of El Espectador, since 1952. Isaza ran a campaign against drug traffickers and was murdered in front of the paper’s offices by two hitmen linked to Colombia’s drug cartels.
This year, Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, popularly known as Shawkan, was bestowed with the award on 2 May on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, celebrated In Ghana this year and the theme was Keeping Power in Check: Media, Justice and The Rule of Law.
The first recipient of award was Gao Yu, a Chinese Journalist who has been repeatedly imprisoned.
