This year UNESCO is celebrating World Press Freedom Day.

One of its themes is “Difficulty in the Access to Quality Information Undermines Media Freedom.”
The United Nations General Assembly declared 3 May to be World Press Freedom Day.

World Press Freedom Day - May,3:

Objective: To elevate consciousness of the significance of freedom of the press and remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression enshrined under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and marking the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, a statement of free press principles put together by African newspaper journalists in 1991.

What is Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize?

UNESCO marks World Press Freedom Day by conferring the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize on a worthy individual, organization or institution that has made an exceptional contribution to the defence and/or endorsement of press freedom anywhere in the world, particularly when this has been achieved in the face of danger.

The Prize is named in honour of “Guillermo Cano Isaza”, a Colombian journalist who was assassinated in front of the offices of his newspaper, El Espectador, in Bogotá, on 17 December 1986. Cano's writings had offended Colombia's powerful drug barons.

• The 2012’s Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize was awarded to: Eynulla Fatullayev, Azerbaijan

What is the Windhoek Declaration?

The “Windhoek Declaration” is a statement of press freedom principles put together by African newspaper journalists in 1991 at a UNESCO seminar, "Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press," held in Windhoek, Namibia, from April 29 to May 3, 1991. The Declaration was the consequence of a long and frank look at the problems of African print media. In Africa, radio is the medium that reaches the largest number of people. The date of the Declaration's adoption, May 3, has since been declared as “World Press Freedom Day”.

Soumitra Chatterjee , veteran actor of Bengali cinema honoured with the esteemed Dadasaheb Phalke Award by Vice-President Hamid Ansari at the 59th National Awards for 2011 for his exceptional contribution to the growth of Indian cinema.

The award carries Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus) medal, a cash prize of Rs.10 lakh. 

The Government has decided to host the award ceremony on May 3 every year. It will also be held next year on the same day May 3, 2013 in order to mark the centenary of Dadasaheb Phalke's first feature film ' Raja Harishchandra ' which was premiered on May 3, 1913 in Bombay.

• Vidya Balan, bagged the Best Actress award

The Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Literacy Award for the year 2005 was awarded to 3 educational societies. The winners are:

1. Hamdard Education Society, New Delhi

2. Muslim Education Society, Kerala

3. F.D Education Society, Gujarat

The recipients were given a cheque of one lakh rupees and a commendation certificate each in recognition of their performance towards educational development of minorities.

Manu Raju an Indian-American journalist was among the journalists, who have won the White House Correspondents Journalism award for 2012.
Manu Raju was honoured with the Merriman Smith Award for Excellence in Presidential Coverage under pressure, in the print category, at the Association's traditional annual dinner with US President Barack Obama in Washington.

Actor Madhuri Dixit awarded the prestigious “Master Dinanath Vishesh award for her contribution to cinema. The award comprises a memento and Rs 1,00,000 cash.