Journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov win Nobel Peace Prize 2021

Journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov were awarded the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize 2021 on Friday for their efforts to protect freedom of expression, a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.

Winner Maria Angelita Ressa is a Filipino-American journalist and author, the co-founder and CEO of Rappler. She has worked for nearly two decades as a lead investigative reporter in Southeast Asia for CNN while the other awardee Dmitry Andreyevich Muratov is a Russian journalist and editor-in-chief of the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta.

The winners were chosen from 329 candidates, which is one of the largest pools in the 126-year history of the Nobel prize. Among those who had been considered favourites for this year’s peace prize were well-known climate change activists, political dissidents and scientists whose work helped fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some of the popular choices were climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, Ales Bialiatski, Belarus opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, US president Joe Biden, German chancellor Angela Merkel, or New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern.

The Nobel Prize consists of a diploma, a gold medal and a cheque for 10 million kronor (980,000 euros, $1.1 million). The tradition of presenting Nobel Prizes began in 1986 in the memory of prize creator Alfred Nobel. The Peace Prize is the only Nobel to be awarded in the Norwegian capital