The School of Journalism and Social Communication at the National University of La Plata in Argentina bestowed the Rodolfo Walsh journalism prize on the president of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo association, Hebe Pastor de Bonafin, reported La Nación. This is the same award that in March was given to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, prompting criticism.
Brazil's National Association of Newspapers (ANJ in Portuguese) has announced that it will award the 2011 Press Freedom Prize to the Argentine newspaper Clarín, reported the news agency EFE.
Journalists from Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Venezuela were three of the four winners of the Ortega y Gasset Journalism Prizes, organized by the Spanish newspaper El País.
Spanish journalist Judith Torrea, author of the blog Ciudad Juárez, en la Sombra del Narcotráfico (Ciudad Juárez, in the Shadow of Drug Trafficking), won the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom award and was selected to be one of the 2011-12 International Knight Fellows.
Inter American Press Association (IAPA) president Gonzalo Marroquín and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation were honored with Press Freedom Awards this week at the Institute of the Americas in La Jolla, California, IAPA announced.
Amid controversy for the decision to award him a prize, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez received the Rodolfo Walsh Prize in the category “Latin American President for Popular Communication," which the Universidad de La Plata awards every year, La Razón reports. See stories in English by Reuters, CNN, the Associated Press, and other sources.
El Diario de Juárez, a major newspaper in the Mexican city of Ciudad Juárez – one of the world’s most violent cities – won the 2011 award for journalistic excellence, organized by the Mexico branch of PEN International.
The American Society of News Editors (ASNE) has announced the winners of its 2011 awards for best U.S. journalism. The awards will be presented at the annual ASNE convention, April 6-9 in San Diego, Calif.
In its 28 edition, the King of Spain International Journalism Prizes has recognized the work of Argentine Diana Fernández Irusta; Colombians José Enrique Guarnizo, Waldir Ochoa Guzmán and Víctor Hugo Deossa; and Mexican Daniel Aguilar Rodríguez, reported the news agency EFE. The awards are among the most prestigious given to Ibero-American journalists.
Cuban journalist Yoani Sánchez, author of the Generation Y blog, won the “iNetworks” (iRedes) prize for the “courage and impact” of her work, ABC and El Mundo report.
The Cuban authorities refused to allow Guillermo Fariñas to travel to France, where he received the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in absentia, BBC reports.
The photojournalist network Nuestra Mirada and Pictures of the Year International (POYi) have partnered to add a Latin American edition to the oldest photojournalism contest in the world.