Press freedom is increasingly under threat. At Congress, we honour those who fight for it.

Every year at the World News Media Congress, WAN-IFRA presents the Golden Pen of Freedom – its most important award, and one of the oldest and most respected press freedom recognitions in the world. On Monday June 1 in Marseille, the 2026 laureate or laureates will be presented with the Golden Pen of Freedom. We are happy to announce that ahead of the award ceremony Mariya Gabriel, Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, UNESCO will give a keynote address.

Since 1961, the Golden Pen has turned the spotlight of public attention on repressive governments and journalists who fight them. This week, as the world marks World Press Freedom Day on May 3, that spotlight feels more necessary than ever. 

The Golden Pen of Freedom is awarded in recognition of the outstanding action, in writing or deed, of an individual, a group or an institution in the cause of press freedom. Previous laureates are testament to the hugely important nature of this work: 

Last year’s recipient was the Association of Independent Regional Press Publishers of Ukraine (AIRPPU). Accepting the award on behalf of Ukrainian journalists, AIRPPU CEO Oksana Brovko said: “We don’t write because we are brave. We write because silence is not an option. When this war ends, the history of this country will not be written only by generals and politicians. It will also be written by journalists in small towns who did not switch off the lights, even when everything around them was falling into darkness.”

Earlier laureates include, in 2023, Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi, the two Iranian journalists arrested for breaking the story of Mahsa Amini’s death – reporting that ignited a nationwide uprising. Maria Ressa, Co-founder, CEO and Executive Editor of Rappler in the Philippines, received the Golden Pen of Freedom in 2018 – two years before she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. During her acceptance speech Ressa said, “You don’t really know who you are until you’re forced to fight to defend it.” In 2019, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was posthumously awarded the Golden Pen of Freedom.