The World Athletics Awards is a prize that can be won by athletes participating in events within the sport of athletics organised by World Athletics (formerly named IAAF), including track and field, cross country running, road running, and racewalking. The first athletes awarded World Athlete of the Year in 1988 were Americans, namely sprinter Florence Griffith-Joyner and track and field athlete Carl Lewis. Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt is the only athlete, male or female, to win the World Athlete of the Year Awards six times. Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva and Morocco's middle-distance runner Hicham El Guerrouj have won the main award three times. Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis has also won the award three times including the inaugural World Athlete of the Year (Men's field) award in 2023 after World Athletics Awards changed from crowning a sole male and female winner to issuing awards across six categories (see below for further details). American track and field athlete Marion Jones, sprinter Sanya Richards-Ross representing the USA, Carl Lewis and other American sprinter Michael Johnson, Ethiopia's long-distance runner Kenenisa Bekele, Kenya's long-distance runner Eliud Kipchoge and Venezuela's triple-jumper Yulima Rojas have won the award twice each. The Rising Star of the Year award was inaugurated in 2005, when Great Britain's sprinter Harry Aikines-Aryeetey was awarded. The first woman to be voted was steeplechase specialist, Ruth Bosibori of Kenya, in 2007. Belgian heptathlete Nafissatou Thiam was the first to receive Rising Star award followed by Athlete of the Year trophy. The other athletes to achieve the feat were Venezuela's triple jumper Yulimar Rojas, American hurdler and sprinter Sydney McLaughlin-Levron, Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis, and Norwegian hurdler Karsten Warholm. In 2022, American sprinter Erriyon Knighton became the first athlete to be crowned Rising Star twice.

Changes to awards system

In 2015, World Athletics (then IAAF) together with their sponsor Adidas launched the Golden Shoe award to recognise the Best Performer of the IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015. The award went to Almaz Ayana (ETH). 2015 was the singular year the Golden Shoe Award was presented by Adidas. Following the doping crisis sweeping the sport and implicating World Athletics directly, Adidas decided to terminate their sponsorship deal with World Athletics three years earlier ending in 2016 instead of 2019. In 2020, three new awards were created amongst the eight given out at the annual World Athletics Awards ceremony to commemorate the challenges faced by athletes, event organisers and their support groups in the wake of the Covid-19 pandamic. The new honours were namely Covid inspiration award, athletes community award and member federations award. In 2023, the World Athlete of the Year awards for men and women were expanded into three event categories: track, field, and out of stadium. In 2024, World Athletics further revamped the World Athletics Awards system. Besides the three separate World Athlete of the Year awards for each gender, there will also be men’s and women’s awards for an overall World Athlete of the Year. Two finalists in each of the three category will progress to be considered for the overall World Athlete of the Year awards. The system for selecting the winner for 2024 had also changed. As per before, a three-way voting process comprising of votes from the World Athletics Council (50%), World Athletics Family (25%) and a public vote on social media (25%) determined the finalists. However, a final round of voting cast by fans of the sport decided the overall World Athlete of the Year once the finalists had been established. Letsile Tebogo and Sifan Hassan were the first men's and women's recipients of this overall winner awards in 2024. Each of them won two awards. Besides the overall award, they won the Athlete of the Year award for their event category too: Tebego was voted the Men's Track Athlete of the Year and Hassan was the winner of the Women's Out of Stadium Athlete of the Year award. As of 2024, the World Athletics Awards included the World Athlete of the Year awards, Rising Star awards, Coaching Achievement Award, Woman of the Year, Photograph of the Year, Member Federation Award and President’s Award.

Athlete of the Year winners

Won per country

Rising Star winners

The Rising Star of the Year award for the best under-20 athlete was introduced by World Athletics in 2005. In 2008, the award was presented as "Revelation of the Year Award". Won per country

Coaching Achievement award winners

The award was first presented in 2006 and had several variation before its current name:

Inspiration award winners

The Inspiration award was first given out in 2007. It recognises an individual or group of individuals whose efforts have resulted in a particularly inspiring athletics event or experience.

Woman of the Year winners

The award started out in 2014 as "Women in Athletics Award" before it was changed by World Athletics in 2019 to "Women of the Year Award".

President's award winners

The President's award was inaugurated during the tenure of Sebastian Coe, President of World Athletics (2015 - present) to recognise and honour exceptional service to athletics.

Member Federation award winners

The Member Federation award was inaugurated in 2020.