The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) just announced its annual awards for Excellence in Journalism 2016, aimed to “encourage excellence in journalism and the defense of freedom of expression throughout the continent.”
This year, the IAPA Grand Prize for Press Freedom was awarded to the Ecuadorian Association of Newspaper Editors (AEDEP for its acronym in Spanish) “for its continued defense of freedom of the press and of expression.” Additionally, media outlets and journalists from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, the United States, Honduras, Mexico, Panama and Venezuela were among the winners in 13 categories of this year’s awards.
AEDEP, composed of the major publishers of print media in Ecuador, is chaired by César Pérez Barriga, from newspaper El Universo.
As explained by IAPA, the association “focuses its activity on the defense of the freedoms of information and opinion and in safeguarding the survival and strengthening of the Ecuadorian newspaper companies, with the purpose of guaranteeing independence of media outlets and of national journalism.” In addition, AEDEP “fosters respect for the opinions of others and supports its associates when free enterprise and freedom of expression are threatened or trampled.”
Among other actions, AEDEP has denounced the unconstitutionality of the Communications Law driven by President Rafael Correa’s government, which is used, according to IAPA, “to harass independent media companies and critical journalism.”
President of the IAPA Awards Committee, Marcel Noble-Herrera, from Grupo Clarín, said that “the contestants’ reporting addresses the relevant issues covered by the best journalism in the Americas: corruption, drug trafficking, violence, pollution,” and added that “with criticism, there are also formidable stories of hope and redemption.”
The awards will be presented during the IAPA’s 72nd General Assembly to be held in Mexico City from Oct. 13 to 17, 2016.
The winning entries this year are the following (the description of each work is available on IAPA’s website. We have added all possible links in this blog.)
1. Inter American Relations Pedro Joaquín Chamorro
· A phantom road returns to haunt Bolivia, Brio Media, Brazil.
Authors: Fernando Barros de Mello, Matheus Leitão, David Gonzalez, Milagros Salazar, Milagros Aguirre, Raul Penaranda, Paula Muñoz Encinas, Emilia Delfino, Luiz Ferraz.
2. Human Rights and Community Service
· Special series on the report of the Truth Commission, El País, Brazil.
Authors: Talita Bedinelli, Heloísa Mendonça, Raquel Seco, Afonso Benites, Marina Rossi, Gil Alessi, María Martín, Carla Jiménez, Antonio Jiménez Barca.
· Honorable mention: "Children of the Mud", El Heraldo, Honduras.
Authors: Carlos Mauricio Flores, Nusly Saray Carías Arguijo, María Antonia Ortiz Molina, Dennis Eduardo Domínguez Cárcamo, Marcel Alejandro Osorto Erazo, Rafael Leonardo López, Manuel Enrique Rodríguez Castillo, Johny Amado Magallanes.
3. Newspaper in Education
· Educational project of La Prensa Gráfica, El Salvador
· Honorable mention: Section of pedagogical activities of newspaper El Mundo, Colombia.
4. Opinion
· “The most accursed of the PT inheritances", El País, Brazil.
Author: Eliane Brum
· Honorable Mention: “Charlie Hebdo: the Cristo Vive case”, Vanguardia, Mexico.
Author: Luis Carlos Plata Ramos
5. News Coverage
· Coverage of the death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman, La Nación, Argentina
Authors: Hernán Capiello and Paz Rodríguez Niell.
· Honorable mention: “The man of the tunnels". El Universal, Mexico.
Authors: Salvador Frausto Crotte, Karla Casillas Bermúdez, Silber Meza, Zorayda Gallegos, Alejandra Sánchez Inzunza, José Luis Pardo, Eileen Truax, Froylán Enciso.
6. In-depth Journalism
· Favela Amazônia. A new portrait of the forest, O Estado de S. Paulo, Brasil.
Authors: Leonencio Nossa Junior and Dida Sampaio.
· Honorable Mention: “The narco by the desk”, Newsweek en Español, Mexico.
Author: Aníbal Santiago.
7. Feature
· The incredible story of Gabo, the professor, and a place claled Recoveco, Revista Emeequis, Mexico.
Author: Silber Alonso Meza.
· Honorable Mention: "Delfino's Way", Vanguardia, Mexico.
Author: Francisco Rodríguez Lozano.
8. Photography
· Flood, La Nación, Argentina.
Author: Ricardo Pristupluk
· Honorable mention: “Misery”, Jornal O’Globo, Brazil.
Author: Marcia Laurene Foletto
9. Cartoon
· Change, Talcual.com, Venezuela
Author: Roberto Weil
· Honorable mention: “Dilma”, magazine Veja, Brazil.
Author: Eduardo Baptistão.
10. Infographics
· Oil spill, El Tiempo, Colombia.
Authors: Irene Larraz, Juan Pablo Noriega Hederich, Carlos Morales, Camilo Ramírez, Bernardo Bejarano, Beiman Pinilla.
· Honorable mention: "Río, city of tunnels", O Globo. Brazil.
Authors: Nathany Santos, Renato Carvalho, Carolina Cavaleiro, Rubens Paiva, Thais Leão, Anderson Campos, Louise Tamiasi.
11. Online news
· The death of Alberto Nisman, Clarín, Argentina.
Authors: News team of Clarín.
· Honorable mention: "Coverage VII Summit of the Americas", TVN Noticias, Panama.
Authors: Elizabeth Garrido A., Carlos H. González, Priscilla Pérez, Carola Vargas, Kerem Pérez, Leydis Delgado, Zelideth Cortez, Aaron González, Kris Ríos, Yamileth Ng, Verónica Herrera, Roberto Rodríguez, Jorge Gutiérrez, Daniel Gómez, Tomás Tryhane, Yudelkis Gaitán, Nayib Concepción, Joyce Baloyes.
12. Multimedia Coverage Alejandro Miró Quesada Garland
· The voices of 12F, NTN 24, Colombia.
Authors: Yuranis Cristina Caballero Briceño, Angélica Paola Hernández Alfonso, Idania Chirinos Fernández, Maryorín Méndez, Rafael Hernández, Harold Martínez, Horst Waldmann, Johanna Hincapié, Diana Niño, Johnattan F. Bilancieri, Ana Vanessa Herrero.
· Honorable mention: "The disappeared, eternal grief", El Universal, Mexico, y El Tiempo, Colombia.
Authors: Ginna Morelo, Rafael Quintero, Claudia Báez, Alejandro Urueña, Juan Ríos, Cristian Peña, Mariana Escobar, José Darío Puentes (El Tiempo); Lilia Saúl, Daniela Guazo, Luis David Torres, Irving Morales, Emanuel Landa (El Universal).
· Honorable mention: "Crime without punishment. Everything on Contraband in Brazil", Folha de São Paulo, Brazil.
Authors: Luciana Coelho, Julio Wiziack, Claudia Rolli, Reynaldo Turollo Jr., Renata Agostini, Dimmi Amora, Sylvia Colombo, Carlos Dias, Lucas Ferraz, Claudia Collucci, Gabriel Mascarenhas, Renan Marra, Vinicius Pereira, Ana Estela de Sousa Pinto, Renato Andrade, Rogério Ortega, Lalo de Almeida, Avener Prado, Rogério Luiz, Mario Kanno, Lucas Zimmermann, William Mur, Lucas Tófoli.
13. Environmental journalism Roberto Eisenmann Jr.
· Hispanics to the rescue of the Colorado, Univisión, United States
Authors: Clemente Alvarez, Nacho Corbella, José Fernando López, Mariano Zafra, Luis Melgar, Ricardo Weibezahn.
· Honorable mention: "Rest with the water", RBSTV, Brazil.
Authors: Fábio Almeida, Guto Teixeira, Eduardo Azevedo, Daniela Selistre, Luysa Espinosa, Rafael Soares, Paulo Leitão, Ronaldo Sabin.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
