Nicaraguan Newspaper La Prensa Wins Top UNESCO Press Freedom Award

Nicaraguan Newspaper La Prensa Wins Top UNESCO Press Freedom Award

Since 2021, following the imprisonment and expulsion of its leaders and the confiscation of its assets, La Prensa has continued to inform the Nicaraguan population online.

RMN News Report

Managua, Nicaragua / Paris, France – The Nicaraguan newspaper La Prensa has been announced as the laureate of the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize for 2025. This prestigious award is recommended by an international jury of media professionals.

La Prensa, a historic Nicaraguan media outlet known as “El Diario de los Nicaragüenses” (The Nicaraguan Peoples’ Journal), was founded in 1926 in Managua. In its nearly century-long history, the newspaper and its journalists have faced numerous acts of repression, which have intensified in recent years, including restrictions on its distribution.

Since 2021, following the imprisonment and expulsion of its leaders and the confiscation of its assets, La Prensa has continued to inform the Nicaraguan population online, with most of its team operating from exile in various countries such as Costa Rica, Spain, Mexico, Germany, and the United States.

The UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize is awarded annually to a person, organization, or institution that has made an exceptional contribution to the defence or promotion of press freedom anywhere in the world.

This is particularly true when the contribution has been made in the face of danger and with courage. It is described as the only United Nations prize awarded to journalists. UNESCO Director-General, Audrey Azoulay, stated that the prize is “a tribute to all journalists who continue to inform us despite numerous risks and threats to their personal safety,” and that “Each year, this Prize reminds us of the importance of standing alongside those who protect and pass on information”.

The prize was created in 1997 and is named after Guillermo Cano Isaza, a Colombian journalist who was assassinated on 17 December 1986 in Bogota, Colombia, in front of his newspaper El Espectador’s offices. The award is funded by contributions from the Guillermo Cano Isaza Foundation (Colombia), the Namibia Media Trust, the Democracy & Media Foundation Stichting Democratie & Media (Netherlands), and the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

UNESCO, the United Nations agency with a mandate to guarantee freedom of expression and the safety of journalists worldwide, coordinates the United Nations Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Fight against Impunity.

The organisation condemns every killing of a journalist and monitors the judicial follow-up. UNESCO also works to protect journalists in several regions, responding to the urgent needs of exiled and displaced reporters. This includes supporting solidarity centres and shelters for journalists in various countries and setting up regional centres in Costa Rica (for Latin America) and Kenya (for East Africa).

These centres aim to offer journalists a safe working environment, provide security training, psychological and medical care, and financial assistance. UNESCO also raises global public awareness through events like the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists (2 November) and World Press Freedom Day (3 May). UNESCO, headquartered in Paris with 194 Member States, contributes to peace and security by leading multilateral cooperation.

The award ceremony for La Prensa will take place on 7 May 2025 at 13.30 CET. It will be held at the BIP Meeting Center, Rue Royale/Koningsstraat, Brussels, Belgium, on the sidelines of the World Conference on Press Freedom.