Hespos was the recipient of many awards and honors in his career, including the 1967 Gaudeamus International Composers Award and the Rompreis of the Villa Massimo in 1972. In 2005, the Academy of Arts, Berlin, created an archive of Hespos' music. That same year, Opernwelt magazine selected Hespos' iOPAL as the new opera of the year. The Bavarian State Library holds his complete works.
