Maria Ressa, a former CNN correspondent, founded an investigative website, Rappler, almost ten years ago, where she often denounced President Duterte’s security policies and extrajudicial killings in his anti-drug campaign. She suffered repeated police harassment and In June 2021, she received a jail term for a cyber libel case and is currently on bail pending her appeal against the decision. The IFJ supported her and had called on the authorities in the Philippines to drop all cases against her.

Dmitry Andreyevich Muratov founded an independent newspaper, the Novaja Gazeta, almost thirty years ago. Since then, six of its media workers have been murdered, including Anna Anna Politkovskaya, who was known as a critic of the Kremlin's war in Chechnya. The paper is known for its critical view of those in power, and publishes articles about censorship, police brutality, elections fraud and more.

The committee’s statement said "Maria Ressa uses freedom of expression to expose abuse of power, use of violence and growing authoritarianism in her native country, the Philippines" and "Dmitry Muratov has for decades defended freedom of speech in Russia under increasingly challenging conditions."

The award comes with a gold medal and a cash prize of about $1.14 million.

Anthony Bellanger said: “The IFJ family sends its most sincere congratulations to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov on receiving this award and being its recipients in their profession. We welcome the Nobel Committee's recognition of the importance of freedom of the press and the role of journalism in the service of democracy and peace, especially at the moment when journalists' rights are under unprecedented threats globally".