He was awarded a Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.) honoris causa by the University of Alberta in Edmonton in 2011. In 2012, he served as the McGraw Professor of Writing at Princeton University. He was the McGraw Professor of Writing at Princeton University Fall (2012). On 1 June 2015, Sainath became the first ThoughtWorks Chair Professor in Rural India and Digital Knowledge at the Asian College of Journalism. He won the inaugural World Media Summit Global Award for Excellence 2014 in Public Welfare for exemplary news professionals in developing countries.