The Diplomat in Spain

The Diplomat

Yesterday, King Philip VI presided over in Casa América the award ceremony for the 37th King of Spain International Journalism Prize and the 16th Don Quixote Journalism Prize, which are organised every year by the EFE Agency and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID).

“Journalism is always necessary, and in these times of health, economic and social crisis, it is especially necessary”, said the monarch during his speech. “It is time to exercise the journalistic leadership of authenticity and quality, and these attributes are precisely what these awards display; attributes conceived as a citizen’s right to information, where the media is the voice of the people, and honesty its guiding principle”, he continued during the ceremony, which was attended by the First Vice President of the Government, Carmen Calvo; the presidents of Congress and the Senate, Meritxell Batet and Pilar Llop; the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya; the President of the EFE news agency, Gabriela Cañas; and the Director General of Casa de América, Antonio Pérez-Hernández, among other authorities.

The purpose of the King of Spain International Journalism Awards is to recognise the informative work of Spanish and Portuguese language journalism professionals from the States that make up the Ibero-American Community of Nations and from nations with which Spain has historical links and cultural and cooperation relations. In addition, the Don Quixote Journalism Prize was created in 2004 on the occasion of the fourth centenary of the first edition of Don Quixote. The works are valued for their linguistic quality and good use, defence and enrichment of the Spanish language, and journalists from Spanish-speaking countries, the United States, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea, Israel and Morocco are eligible.

This year, the Don Quixote Journalism Prize was awarded to the Spaniard Mar Abad García, co-founder of the magazine Yorokobu. As for the King of Spain International Journalism Awards, the winners were Press Award, to Luis Fernando Soria Sejas, from El Deber, Bolivia; the Ibero-American Journalism Award, to Ricardo Calderón Villegas and team, from Semana magazine, Colombia; the Television Award, to Gustavo Marcelo Costa and team, from Record TV, Brazil; the Radio Award, to Linda Carolay Morales Pérez, from RCN Radio and Colombiano; the Digital Journalism Award, to Miriam Herranz, representing the RTVE_El Lab de RTVE team. es, Spain; Ibero-American Special Award for Environmental and Sustainable Journalism, to Sofía de Palma Rodrigues and team, from RTP Africa/Divergente.pt, Portugal; Award for Outstanding Media in Latin America, to Agus Morales and team, from 5W Magazine, Spain; and Cultural and Sustainable Development Award, to César Vallejo and team, from RTVE_ la and Playz, Spain.