Macarena Soto and Alida Juliani
Madrid (EFE) such as fentanyl, exile in Nicaragua or migration in Latin America.
The purpose of the King of Spain International Journalism Awards is to recognize the informative work of Spanish and Portuguese-language journalism professionals from the States that make up the Ibero-American Community of Nations and from the nations with which Spain maintains ties of a historical nature and relations cultural and cooperative
They have been granted annually since 1983, when they were created by the EFE Agency and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (Aecid).
Freedom of the press and expression were the other major protagonists of the awards ceremony that took place in the Gabriela Mistral auditorium of the Casa de América in Madrid, packed for the occasion.
The King of Spain, Felipe VI, was in charge of presenting the awards to the professionals Víctor Emmanuel Valles Mata, Adrián Tinoco, Jesús Martínez, Marc Javierre-Kohan, Marisol Soto, Francesc Tomas, Eduardo Laplaza, Víctor Núñez, Manuel Salvador Saldarriaga and the Colombian outlet Cuestión Pública.
The best images of 40 years of awards
A selection of the best images awarded by EFE over these 40 years opened a delivery attended by personalities from Spanish politics and journalism, as well as ambassadors, mainly from Latin America and from other countries such as India or Qatar.
The president of the EFE Agency, Gabriela Cañas, picked up the baton from the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, who denounced the rise in violence against media professionals and the lack of plurality in them.
Cañas, for his part, advocated for quality journalism in the face of the emergence of new technologies that generate misinformation, hoaxes and false news.
The king later handed over the bronze statuettes by the Spanish sculptor Joaquín Vaqueros and the winners posed next to the monarch for the official photos, visibly moved and proud to receive the award, valued at 10,000 euros, which equals them to the Pulitzer.
Among the winners was a veteran of these distinctions, the Colombian from Medellín Manuel Saldarriaga, who for the fourth time and like a fish in the water on stage, won this recognition.
In statements to EFE, Saldarriaga acknowledged having dreamed of receiving the first of these awards from King Emeritus, Juan Carlos I, when he covered a visit by the ex-monarch to his city and later continued dreaming of receiving a few more from Felipe VI.
Lennon’s “Imagine” to claim peace
The closing of the gala was marked by the surprise performance of the Spanish singer Beli Basarte, who performed a version of John Lennon’s pacifist anthem “Imagine” while images of photographers from the EFE Agency in armed conflicts were projected.
In the snapshots, images of the war in Ukraine could be seen, in which violence was present, but also others with a more hopeful tone as a hymn to peace and stabilization in the country.
These photographs can be seen starting this week in the Campo del Moro gardens in Madrid in a traveling exhibition that will tour several Latin American countries.
“You will see few politicians. They will see images of violence and misery, but also of great beauty, generosity, empathy and humanity. Because that is also good graphic journalism”, explained the president of EFE.
Later Felipe VI met with the winners in a separate area to have a more relaxed chat, while the rest of the guests enjoyed a cocktail to which the Spanish monarch and the winners later joined.
The 40th edition of the King of Spain International Journalism Awards thus closes another year of recognition of the work of Ibero-American journalism, which once again demonstrated strength and commitment to the challenges facing the profession and democracy at this gala.