The IPS Award was established in 1985 to honour outstanding accomplishments in international journalism. Since then, criteria for the award have been expanded to include accomplishments in promoting democracy and human rights.

Inter Press Service Third World News Agency established the International Journalism Award in 1985 as a way for honouring outstanding journalists whose efforts, and often lives, contributed significantly to exposing human rights violations and advancing democracy, most usually, in developing countries.

In 1991, IPS decided to broaden the scope of the award to reflect the tremendous changes taking place in the world following the historic break-up of the Soviet-Union and the end of the Cold War. The Award, renamed the International Achievement Award, was established to recognise the work of individuals and organisations who continue to fight for social and political justice in the "new world order".

The jury panel for the award includes along with Inter Press Service, the International Press Institute, and the Swedish International Press Agency. Since its inception, the IPS award has received the support of the U.N. Secretary-General, who has met all the award recipients.

RECIPIENTS OF THE IPS AWARD
2000 NAFIS SADIK, Executive-Director of the United Nations Population Fund, for her inspiring leadership of UNFPA from 1987-2000, and her fearless advocacy of the rights of women.
1999 JUAN SOMAVIA, Director-General of the International Labour Organization, for his lifelong deep commitment to social development and international cooperation.
1998 GRAÇA MACHEL, first lady of South Africa and President of Mozambique's Foundation for Community Involvement, for her efforts to draw attention to the plight of children in armed conflict and to the educational needs of all children.
1997 JOHANNES PIETER PRONK, Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation, for his pioneering work in using development aid to bolster democracy and human development in Africa.
1996 BOUTROS BOUTROS-GHALI, United Nations Secretary-General, for his insightful leadership of the UN in its work to secure peace, support democracy and foster the inclusion of civil society in development. Boutros-Ghali also played a major role in transforming the role of peacekeepers into bodies that helped pave the way for democratic elections and civilian rule in many nations.
1995 RANDALL ROBINSON, Executive Director of TransAfrica, for his work in shaping popular opinion in the United States to influence U.S. foreign policy toward Africa and the Caribbean.
1994 MARTTI AHTISAARI, for his role in the U.N. peace process that led to Namibia's independence in 1990.
1993 THE STAFF OF OSLOBODJENJE, the daily newspaper of Sarajevo, for their courageous role in striving to inform the world about the suffering in the former Yugoslavia.
FAFO, the Norwegian Institute for Applied Social Science, for helping to provide the conditions for the secret talks held between the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and the government of Israel in Oslo that led to the September 1993 peace accord.
1992 JEAN-BERTRAND ARISTIDE, President of Haiti, for his fight for democracy and the preservation of human rights.
1991 DANIELLE MITTERRAND, first lady of France, for her role in creating awareness of the problems of the dispossessed minorities around the world.
1990 RICHARD DE ZOYSA, a Sri Lankan journalist who was abducted and murdered by suspected death squads in Colombo following his news accounts of the killings of students by death squads.
1989 ALEXANDER PUMPYANSKY, a Soviet journalist and editor whose work presaged the era of glasnost.
1988 GWEN LISTER, a Namibian journalist and editor who raised issues about the abuse of human rights and the illegal occupation of Namibia by the South African government.
1987 GUILLERMO CANO, a journalist from Colombia who dared to write about the drug underworld and who later was murdered by the drug barons he helped to expose.
1986 JOSE BURGOS, a Filipino journalist who was hounded and jailed for his writings against the prevailing Marcos regime.
1985 ALLISTER SPARKS, a South African journalist who was persecuted for his outspoken writings against apartheid.