CPJ celebrates courageous journalists at 2025 International Press Freedom Awards 

Gala hosted by Christiane Amanpour marks record fundraising year 

New York, November 21, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) celebrated five journalists at the 35th annual International Press Freedom Awards (IPFA) in New York on Thursday, raising a record-breaking $2.925 million to protect journalists around the world.

This year’s awardees were: Dong Yuyu, a veteran Chinese journalist currently imprisoned in China on espionage charges; Elvira del Pilar Nole and Juan Carlos Tito, a married couple from Ecuador reporting in exile from Canada; Bolot Temirov, a seasoned investigative reporter from Kyrgyzstan; and Sonia Dahmani, a Tunisian lawyer, writer, and prominent media commentator imprisoned in Tunisia for her reporting.

For the first time in the organization’s history, none of CPJ’s IPFA Awardees were honored in person. Dong and Dahmani remain in prison in their home countries, Temirov leads his outlet in exile from an undisclosed location in Europe, and Nole and Tito are unable to travel while their asylum claims are in process.

“This is not a drill,” CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg said as she called on the journalism community to launch a bold defense against spiking press freedom threats in the U.S. and abroad. “It requires bravery but it requires a little less bravery if we all stand up together,” she said. “In this critical moment for our profession, for our society, let us be half as brave as our colleagues who risk everything to report the truth.”

This year’s awards ceremony was hosted by Christiane Amanpour, CNN’s Chief International Anchor and a longtime supporter of CPJ. Amanpour celebrated the awardees’ strength and commitment to journalism, “By honoring these five journalists this evening we highlight the courage of thousands of other journalists who fight government repression and censorship every day.”

Juan Arredondo, a prize-winning Colombian-American filmmaker and photographer known for his conflict reporting in Latin America and Ukraine, presented the award to Dong Yifu, Dong’s son. “Dong Yuyu asks questions. That makes him a journalist. In China today, it also makes him a threat,” said Arredondo. Dong remains imprisoned in China after last week a Beijing court upheld a harsh seven year prison sentence on spy charges.

Garry Pierre-Pierre, the Pulitzer Prize winning founder of the Haitian Times, acknowledged the impact of the Nole’s and Tito’s reporting in their Ecuadoran community for more than 20 years, and now in exile: “Elvira and Juan Carlos packed their lives into four suitcases and fled, first to Colombia then Canada. They are among some 20 journalists who have been forced to flee because of the political and criminal violence in Ecuador over the past two years.”

Katharine Viner, the editor of The Guardian, recognized Temirov’s contribution to Kyrgyzstan’s press scene in absentia. “Bolot continues to publish investigations into top state officials, including the president, from somewhere in Europe. This has prompted more retaliation. Just last month, the government declared his channel ‘extremist,’ which could make sharing or liking posts extremely dangerous for Bolot’s audience at home,” noted Viner. 

Ayman Mohyeldin, a longtime journalist and MS NOW host, presented the award to Dahmani’s sister, Ramla Dahmani. “Her imprisonment is emblematic of the worsening of press freedom in Tunisia,” said Mohyeldin. “The country was the catalyst for the Arab Spring of 2011, which brought hopes of greater political and media freedoms across the Middle East.” Dahmani is serving a nearly five-year sentence on multiple anti-state charges in Tunisia. 

Following the deadliest year on record for the press in 2024, the organization asked Palestinian journalist Shrouq Al Aila, recipient of a 2024 IPFA Award, to reflect on her experience reporting from Gaza since October 7, 2023. 

Unable to leave Gaza, Al Aila’s remarks were read to attendees by Jon Williams, Fadi Mansour, Yesica Fisch, Humeyra Pamuk, Mohammed Mhawish, and Rula Jebreal. “When the genocide began to subside, I felt something inside me rekindle — a quiet but certain faith in the power of journalism,” wrote Al Aila. “My colleagues and I are waiting now, with our cameras and our words, to document Gaza as it rises once again from the ruins, stronger, more beautiful, and unbroken.”

CPJ’s board of directors honored David McCraw, the lead newsroom lawyer for The New York Times, senior vice president and deputy general counsel, with the 2025 Gwen Ifill Award, which was presented by Amanpour. McCraw celebrated the contributions of his fellow honorees and warned against anticipatory obedience amid emerging threats to press freedom in the U.S. “There are things worse than fighting and losing,” said McCraw. “Independent, fact-driven journalism still matters.”

The annual benefit dinner, held in New York City, was chaired by Almar Latour, CEO, Dow Jones, and Publisher, The Wall Street Journal. The funds raised will support CPJ’s global work advocating for press freedom and providing direct assistance to journalists in distress.

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About the Committee to Protect Journalists

The Committee to Protect Journalists is an independent, nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide. We defend the right of journalists to report the news safely and without fear of reprisal.

To interview a CPJ expert, please email [email protected]. Profile videos about the awardees and footage from the ceremony are available here. Photos from the event are accessible from CPJ’s Flickr page and Getty Images.

CPJ’s 2025 International Press Freedom Awardees:

Dong Yuyu, China 

Elvira del Pilar Nole and Juan Carlos Tito, Ecuador 

Bolot Temirov, Kyrgyzstan 

Sonia Dahmani, Tunisia David McCraw, Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Awardee