Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora, who has been imprisoned for more than 700 days, expressed his gratitude for the Gabo Foundation’s Recognition of Journalistic Excellence through an audio message and a letter, during the Gabo Award ceremony on Friday, July 5, in Bogotá, Colombia.
"Never, ever, have I felt such warm and nurturing company and so much freedom as today, that you have transformed my imprisonment and my own confinement into a comfortable and happy place," Zamora said in a recorded message. His Excellence award had been announced in May by the Gabo Prize Governing Council.
His son, José Zamora, received the award on behalf of his father and read a letter speech, in which the founder of elPeriódico newspaper vehemently defended journalism exercised with independence: “The press and independent journalists must realize that their submission to any cause can only lead to the sowing of conformism, disinformation and confusion, and in the co-responsibility of changes so that nothing changes.”
At the ceremony, the winners of the Gabo Award 2024 were announced. In the categories Text and Image, the award went to the report "La noche de los caballos: el rescate equino más grande de América del Sur," by Revista Gatopardo (Argentina); in Image, the winner was "Vale dos Isolados - O assassinato de Bruno e Dom," by TV Globo (Brazil); in Audio, the award went to the podcast "Las mujeres valientes: Guií chanáa," by Nayelli López Reyes (Mexico); and in Coverage the award went to "Amazon Underworld," by InfoAmazonia, La Liga Contra el Silencio and Armando.Info (Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela).
