Nobel Peace Prize laureates Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov, recognised for their fight for freedom of expression in the Philippines and Russia, received their awards at a ceremony in Oslo on Friday (December 10), despite Norway's high rate of COVID-19.
Muratov said journalism in Russia was going "through a dark times", with over a hundred journalists, media outlets, human rights defenders and non-governmental organisations having been branded as foreign agents.
Ressa and Muratov are the first journalists to receive the prize since Germany's Carl von Ossietzky won the 1935 award for revealing his country's secret post-war rearmament program.
Receiving the award at Oslo City Hall, Ressa who is the co-founder of news site Rappler, reiterated her call for reform of social media platforms.
Last year's laureate went to the World Food Programme and its director-general, also attended the Oslo ceremony on Friday.
He called for an end to famine, warning of nations would be destabilised and mass migration would follow if the problem was not effectively tackled.
The ceremony at Oslo City Hall was held with fewer guests than planned due to government restrictions put in place this week. Norway reported record daily COVID-19 infections on Thursday.
In Sweden, where infection rates are lower than in Norway, organisers in September cancelled the in-person Nobel ceremonies for the second year running.
Instead, the 2021 laureates in Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, Literature and Economics, prizes all awarded in Sweden, received their diplomas and medals in their home countries, while the traditional Nobel lectures have all been given online.