World Peace Council prizes


The World Peace Council, an anti-imperialist non-governmental organization, has awarded a number of prizes, beginning in 1950. These have been awarded to individuals, organisations, peoples, and places. Typically, several winners would be voted at one WPC congress; these, or their representative, would receive their prize at a later congress, or from a WPC delegation. Extra prizes were awarded in 1959 and 1964, to mark the WPC's 10th and 15th anniversaries.
The awards include:
The WPC was allied with the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Some recipients of its prizes have also won the Lenin Peace Prize, a separate prize awarded by a panel appointed by the Soviet government.
Some of those sympathetic to the Israeli treatment of Palestinians expressed the opinion that the award lost credibility in 1980 when it was presented to Yasser Arafat, whom they considered a terrorist. They also objected to awarding the prize to Egyptian president Gamal Abdul Nasser. Some who were unfriendly to the socialist cause objected to awarding the prize to Cuban president Fidel Castro and Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev as well as Romanian premier Nicole Ceauşescu.

List of award winners

DateAwardeeTypeCountryAwardNotesRefs
1950PersonCzechoslovakiaHonorary International Peace PrizePosthumous.
1950PersonSpainInternational Peace Prize
1950PersonChileInternational Peace Prize
1950PersonUnited StatesInternational Peace Prize
1950PersonTurkeyInternational Peace Prize
1950PersonPolandInternational Peace PrizeFor her 1948 film Ostatni etap
1950PersonBrazilGold Medal
1950PersonFranceGold Medal
1950PersonRomaniaGold Medal
1950PersonItalyGold Medal
1950PersonCzechoslovakiaGold Medal
1950PersonFranceGold Medal
1950Al-TariqWorkLebanonGold MedalJournal.
1950Iunost' mira WorkSoviet Union / HungaryGold MedalDocumentary about the 1949 World Youth Festival in Budapest.
1950WarsawPlacePolandHonorary International Peace PrizeAn exceptional award to the city as "a symbol of peaceful restoration".
1953PersonBulgariaHonorary International Peace PrizePosthumous award.
1953PersonMexicoInternational Peace PrizeMember of the Comite por la Paz Mexicano
1953PersonIndiaInternational Peace Prize
1953PersonUnited StatesInternational Peace PrizeWon the Lenin Peace Prize in 1959.
1953PersonFranceInternational Peace Prize
1953PersonIcelandInternational Peace Prize
1953PersonGermany DRInternational Peace PrizeFor directing Das verurteilte Dorf.
1953PersonGermany DRInternational Peace PrizeFor co-writing Das verurteilte Dorf.
1953PersonGermany DRInternational Peace PrizeFor co-writing Das verurteilte Dorf.
1953PersonFranceGold Medal
1953PersonCzechoslovakiaGold Medal
1953PersonAustraliaGold MedalFor his novel The Diplomat.
1953PersonBrazilGold MedalFor his orchestral work Canto de Amor e Paz.
1953PersonArgentinaGold Medal
1953PersonJapanGold MedalFor Hiroshima panels
1953PersonJapanGold MedalFor Hiroshima panels
1953PersonIranGold Medal
1953PersonFranceGold Medal
1953PersonRomaniaGold MedalFor sculpture "Korean partisans"
1953PersonVenezuelaGold Medal
1953PersonColombiaGold Medal
1953PersonFinlandGold MedalFor statue entitled "Peace".
1954PersonUnited KingdomInternational Peace Prize
1954PersonSoviet UnionInternational Peace Prize
1955PersonHungaryHonorary International Peace PrizePosthumous award
1955PersonFranceInternational Peace Prize
1955PersonNetherlandsInternational Peace Prize
1955PersonItalyInternational Peace Prize
1955PersonBrazilInternational Peace Prize
1956PersonFranceHonorary International Peace PrizePosthumous award
1956PersonUnited StatesInternational Peace Prize
1956PersonChina PRInternational Peace Prize
1956PersonGreeceInternational Peace Prize
1957PersonUnited KingdomInternational Peace PrizeRefused award.
1957PersonChina PRJoliot-Curie medal
1959PersonGreeceJoliot-Curie gold medal
1959PersonGoaGold medalPosthumous award
1959Afro-Asian People's Solidarity OrganisationOrganisationInternationalGold medal
1959Mouvement de la PaixOrganisationFranceGold medal
1959Czechoslovak Peace CommitteeOrganisationCzechoslovakiaGold medal
1959PersonSoviet UnionGold medal
1959PersonRomaniaGold medal
1959PersonLebanonGold medal
1959PersonChileGold medal
1959PersonCanadaGold medal
1959PersonSoviet Unionsilver medal
1959PersonSoviet UnionJoliot-Curie silver medal
1959PersonSoviet UnionJoliot-Curie silver medal
1959PersonSoviet UnionJoliot-Curie silver medal
?PersonSoviet UnionSilver medal
1959PersonAustraliaMedal
1959PersonSoviet UnionJoliot-Curie silver medal
1959PersonAustraliaJoliot-Curie silver medal
1959PersonIndiaJoliot-Curie silver medal
1959PersonSoviet UnionJoliot-Curie silver medal
1959PersonCubaJoliot-Curie silver medal
1960PersonItalyGold medal
1960PersonGermany FRGold medal
1960PersonGermany FRGold medal
1960PersonGermany FRGold medal
1960PersonGermany FRJubilee Silver medal
1960PersonGermany FRJubilee Silver medal
1960PersonGermany FRJubilee Silver medal
1960PersonGermany FRJubilee Silver medal
1960PersonSoviet UnionMedal
1961PersonSoviet UnionGold medalMarking his 70th birthday.
1961PersonFranceGold medalMarking her 80th birthday.
1961World Federation of Democratic YouthOrganisationInternationalGold medal
?Political prisoners in Francoist SpainPersonsSpainGold medal
?PersonSoviet UnionGrand Silver medal
?PersonSoviet UnionMedal
?PersonMexicoJoliot-Curie medal
1963PersonGreeceGold medal
1963PersonGreeceGold medalPosthumous award
1963PersonKenyaGold medal
1964PersonSpainGold medalPosthumous award.
1964PersonIraqGold medalPosthumous award.
1964PersonAlgeriaGold medalPosthumous award.
1964PersonHungaryGold medalMarking his 75th birthday.
1964PersonItalyGold medal
1964PersonGermany DRGold medal
1964PersonGermany FRGold medal
1964PersonGermany FRGold medal
1964PersonUnited KingdomGold medal
1964PersonPolandGold medal
1964PersonCyprusGold medal
1964PersonArgentinaGold medal
1964PersonVenezuelaGold medal
1964PersonFranceGold medal
1964PersonSoviet Union / PolandGold medal
1964PersonSoviet UnionGold medal
1964PersonSoviet UnionGold medal
1964HiroshimaPlaceJapanGold medal
1964NagasakiPlaceJapanGold medal
1964PersonSouth AfricaJoliot-Curie gold medal
1964PersonPolandJoliot-Curie gold medal
1965PersonEgyptGold medal
1965PersonSudanGold medal
1965PersonAustraliaJoliot-Curie gold medal
1965PersonAustraliaJoliot-Curie gold medal
1966PersonSoviet UnionJoliot-Curie gold medal
1966PersonAngolaJoliot-Curie medal
1966PersonCubaJoliot-Curie gold medal
1968PersonChileJoliot-Curie gold medal
1969PersonHungaryJoliot-Curie medal
1969PersonMongoliaJoliot-Curie medal
1969PersonUnited KingdomJoliot-Curie medal
1969PersonPeruJoliot-Curie medalPosthumous award.
1970PersonIndiaJoliot-Curie medalPosthumous award.
1971PersonUnited StatesJoliot-Curie gold medalPosthumous award, accepted by Ralph Abernathy of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
1971Auschwitz-Birkenau State MuseumOrganisationPolandJoliot-Curie gold medal
1972PersonGuinea-Bissau / Cape VerdeJoliot-Curie medal
1972PersonCubaJoliot-Curie gold medal
1972PersonMongoliaJoliot-Curie gold medal
1972PersonEgyptJoliot-Curie medalPosthumous award.
1972PersonChileJoliot-Curie gold medal
1972Coalition for Peace and JusticeOrganisationUnited StatesJoliot-Curie medal
1972Organization of African UnityOrganisationInternationalJoliot-Curie medal
1972 "the people of Lao fighting for independence and freedom"PlaceLaosJoliot-Curie medal
1973PersonBelgiumJoliot-Curie gold medal
1973PersonBangladeshJoliot-Curie medal
1974PersonPolandJoliot-Curie gold medal
1975PersonFinlandJoliot-Curie gold medal
1975PersonPalestineJoliot-Curie gold medal
1975PersonCyprusJoliot-Curie gold medal
1975Government of North VietnamOrganisationVietnam DRJoliot-Curie gold medal
1975Government of South VietnamOrganisationVietnam RepJoliot-Curie gold medal
1975United Nations Special Committee against ApartheidOrganisationInternationalJoliot-Curie gold medal
1975United Nations Special Committee on DecolonisationOrganisationInternationalJoliot-Curie gold medal
1975PersonSoviet UnionJoliot-Curie gold medalConsidered a riposte to Andrei Sakharov's 1975 Nobel Peace Prize.
1976PersonMozambiqueJoliot-Curie gold medal
1977VietnamPlaceVietnamJoliot-Curie medalPresented to Nguyễn Hữu Thọ. The Vietnamese government had earlier awarded the WPC its Friendship Order.
1977World Marxist ReviewWorkCzechoslovakia
1977PersonRomaniaJoliot-Curie medalThe award was delayed by Soviet objections, but pushed through by Indira Gandhi.
1978PersonEthiopiaJoliot-Curie gold medal
1979PersonJamaicaJoliot-Curie gold medal
1980PersonKampucheaJoliot-Curie medal
1980PersonPalestineHo Chi Minh award
1980PersonCubaMedal
1981Sandinista National Liberation FrontOrganisationNicaraguaHo Chi Minh award
1981PersonUruguayJoliot-Curie gold medal
1983PersonIndiaJoliot-Curie gold medalDirector of the UN Centre against Apartheid
1983PersonNigeriaJoliot-Curie gold medalChairman of the UN Special Committee against Apartheid
1985PersonUnited StatesJoliot-Curie gold medal
1986African National CongressOrganisationSouth AfricaHo Chi Minh awardAccepted by Oliver Tambo.
1986PersonNamibiaHo Chi Minh award
1986BratislavaPlaceCzechoslovakiaTown of Peace
1988PersonTanzaniaJoliot-Curie medal
1988PersonSoviet UnionJoliot-Curie gold medal
1989PersonNicaraguaJoliot-Curie gold medal
?PersonJamaicaJoliot-Curie medal

In 2002, the WPC denied news reports that it had given a prize to Meles Zenawi.