Journalism from five Latin American countries were recognized with the King of Spain Awards, as announced by Spanish agency EFE and the Spanish Agency of International Cooperation of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The awards, which began in 1983, recognize the best in Spanish and Portuguese-language journalism in Ibero-America and were announced on Jan. 31.
Winner of the Ibero-American Journalism Award is Wilfredo Ernesto Miranda Aburto, reporter for Nicaraguan weekly Confidencial, for his article “Disparaban con Precisión: a matar” (They shoot with precision: to kill!). The story documents serious injuries and deaths of protesters allegedly shot by snipers during repression by police and paramilitary forces.
Miranda Aburto was threatened with prison for the report and is now in exile in Miami, as reported by WLRN. He told the station he wants to dedicate the award to journalists Miguel Mora and Lucía Pineda of 100% Noticias who are in prison and awaiting trials.
The Press Award went to Argentine journalists Diego Cabot, Candela Ini and Santiago Nasra from newspaper La Nación. The winning article,"Los cuadernos de las coimas" (The notebooks of bribes), was “about the corruption in the country’s previous justicialist government,” according to EFE.
A team of Bolivian journalists won the Special Ibero-American Award for Environmental and Sustainability Journalism for the article “Bolivia: Mafia le arranca los colmillos al jaguar, el gran felino de América” (Bolivia: Mafia rips the fangs out of the jaguar, the great feline of America). The work was published by newspaper El Deber and site Mongabay Latam.
The Television Award went to Brazilian journalist Marcelo Magalhaes and his team whose story “Os Piratas da Amazônia” (Pirates of the Amazon) was broadcast by Record TV.
A collaborative project between Univision Noticias and Salvadoran site El Faro took the Digital Journalism Award for their bilingual series “De migrates a refugiados: el nuevo drama centroamericano” (From migrants to refugees: the new plight of Central Americans.”
The Award for Outstanding Media of Ibero-America went to Brazilian site Amazonia Real.
The Radio Award went to a team from Spanish Cadena Ser for the documentary series “Vidas enterradas” (Buried lives) that remembers those lost during the Civil War and the regime of Francisco Franco.
The Don Quijote Award went to Francisco Moreno of Spain for the New York Times en Español opinion article “La represión lingüística del español en Estados Unidos," (The linguistic repression of Spanish in the United States).
Nuno Andrés Ferreira of Portugal won the Photography Award and Spanish presenter for Mexican television Joaquín López-Dóriga was honored “for his long career,” according to EFE.
The winners will be recognized at a ceremony in Madrid and will be awarded by the King and Queen of Spain, the agency said.
