World Mayor


World Mayor is a biennial award organized by The City Mayors Foundation since 2004. It intends to raise the profile of mayors worldwide, as well as honour those who have served their communities well and who have contributed to the well-being of cities, nationally and internationally. The organisers make it plain that the award has no connection with any city or organization and is run on strictly non-commercial lines. Helen Zille and Leopoldo Lopez discussed their 2008 nominations on the BBC World Service programme 'Outlook'. The Guardian looked at contenders for the 2014 prize. The 2018 World Mayor Project was dedicated to women mayors. The 2020 World Mayor Project is dedicated to mayors who have made the relief of poverty one of their top priorities.
The City Mayors Foundation commissions the trophy presented as the World Mayor Award. The trophy was designed by artist Manuel Ferrari and is handmade out of steel by the metalworker Kaspar Swankey.

Notable recipients

Notable winners include : Edi Rama, Dora Bakoyannis and Marcelo Ebrard, while runners-up have included Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Job Cohen, Joko Widodo, Gavin Newsom, Leopoldo López and Cory Booker.
Riace mayor Domenico Lucano, who came third in the 2010 poll, was arrested in October 2018 on various immigration-related charges. The mayor of Gdańsk Paweł Adamowicz, who was assassinated in January 2019, had ranked ninth in the 2016 poll.

City Mayors Foundation

The City Mayors Foundation, also known as City Mayors, is an international think tank dedicated to urban affairs. It has been active since 2003 and runs the biennial World Mayor award, as well as providing pro bono consultancy services. Unlike Eurocities and United Cities and Local Governments it is wholly independent of any city.

Winners of the World Mayor Prize

Runners up (Commendations)