Mexico City, February 14, 2023.— Journalism entails social responsibility and a commitment to fact-checking and accuracy. For this reason, the Universidad Panamericana we aim to promote this field of study within the School of Communication, through the Journalism Award, which is held annually and, on this occasion, celebrated its fourth edition with new categories.
The awards ceremony for this contest took place in our university’s auditorium and was attended by Juan Carlos Carrillo Cal y Mayor, M.A., director of the Bachelor’s Degree Program in Communication; Dr. José Luis López Aguirre, coordinator of the Panamericana First Prize in Journalism Committee; Dr. María de Lourdes López Gutiérrez, academic secretary of the School of Communication; and Karen Marely Rodríguez, a Communication student and winner of the feature story category in the third edition of the Journalism Award.
The Role of Journalism
To kick off the event, Mr. Carrillo addressed the audience and reflected on the importance of journalism: “Journalism is at the heart of communication because of its social value and its ability to transform society; that is what we strive to achieve through communication.”
Similarly, Dr. López Aguirre said: “In particular, we have gathered here today to reevaluate the role of journalism (…), and we are placing special emphasis here on highlighting the skills we acquire through knowledge and the practice of journalism.”
“In this day and age, we need information that is truthful, accurate, engaging, well-supported, balanced, useful, verified, and contextualized—information that pursues the common good and the betterment of society—to resonate and go viral, ”he concluded.
Stories Worth Telling
Before the awards ceremony began, Karen Marely, winner of last year’s Journalism Award for her feature story about a street vendor selling scratch-off tickets, told the audience: “When I won, I was happy because I realized that the world already knew who Santiago was, and knowing that the world knows who you are and where you stand in it makes it all worthwhile.”
Karen admitted to her classmates that when she started her degree in Communication, she never thought journalism was for her: “(…) I saw it as something very far removed from me. I knew I liked to write, but I didn’t know why. When I talked to Santiago, I realized that I wrote because our stories deserve to be told.”
Winners of the 4th Journalism Award
- Profile Interview
Winner: Joshua Sigler with Bárbara Enríquez and the Art of Creating Worlds
Honorable Mention: Monika Revilla and Viviana Aguilar García de León for Every time I see something that moves me, I say, “I hope I can do this for someone else.”
- Chronicle
Winner: Fernanda Conde with "Alive and Fearless"
Honorable Mention: Saúl Iván Ramírez with El Politécnico Advances to the Semifinals / Águilas Blancas Defeats Pumas CU in Overtime in the Quarterfinals
- Multimedia Report
Winners: Karen Marely Rodríguez, Karla Yunuén, Trinidad León, Natalia Guillén, and Alfredo Ortiz with From the Grave to the Black Market: Bone Trafficking
Honorable Mention: Ana Paula Pineda, Andrés Dávila, Miguel Ángel Luna, Jorge Antonio Argueta, and Mario Bonvehi, with The Curse of the Fourth Game
- Feature article for a print publication
Winner: Juan Pablo Valenzuela with Digital Tourism, Working from Home, and Gentrification in Mexico City: La Condesa
- Audiovisual news report or program
Winners: Sebastián Silva, Vania de la Torre, and Ximena Reyes for Walking with Zombies
Honorable Mention: Isabel Fernández, Ofmara Rangel, Luna Rangel, Jaime Straufert, Henri Bertin, Octavio Cortés, and Ximena Rojas for Earthquake Apps
- News Podcast
Winners: Uriel Galicia, Aldo Muñoz, Catherine Pérez, and Ana Karen Ramos Building 10
Honorable Mention: Alexa Arévalo, Octavio Cupil, Valeria Avit, and Ofmara Rangel for Animation Experiment
- Innovation in Storytelling
Winners: Paola Chirino, Gloria Lagunas Melchor, Rodrigo Arévalo, Regina Gutiérrez, and Martha Gutiérrez for Are you going?
Honorable Mention: Ofmara Rangel for Cine de Telón
Winners in the audiovisual experience category: María Fernanda Tungüí, Sandra Enríquez, Jorge Velasco, and Javier Mendoza for *Marcha Zombie*
The Panamericana School of Communication seeks to improve society through the advancement of information with an ethical and transcendent purpose.
