See the 40 nominees for the 2020 Gabo Awards

• The selection process involved three rounds of judging, evaluating 1,433 pieces of journalism.
•  The judging panel was made up of 58 judges including prominent journalists, editors, and communication experts. 

• The winners will be announced in a virtual ceremony that will take place on January 21. 

 

The Gabo Foundation, created in 1995 by journalist and Nobel Laureate in Literature Gabriel García Márquez, announces the 40 nominees for the 2020 Gabo Awards, the most important recognition for journalism in Spanish and Portuguese. 

According to the judging panel of the 8th edition of the Gabo Festival, these pieces stand out for their solid research and reporting, high narrative and technical quality, and the ability to inconvenience authorities by portraying the complex realities of Latin America with depth, rigor, and ethics.

The top 40 stories—10 for each competition category: Text, Image, Coverage, and Innovation—were selected after 58 international journalists with extensive experience evaluated 1,443 pieces of journalism in three rounds of judging. The third and final round, made up of 12 judges, included members of the Gabo Foundation’s Governing Council, media outlet directors, communication experts, and experienced journalists.

The three finalists for each category are among the group of nominees, composed of journalists and journalistic teams from different Ibero-American countries. There will be four winners of the 2020 Gabo Awards from this final group of 12, which will be announced on January 21, 2021 in a virtual ceremony.

In addition to the ceremony, the traditional Marathon of the Best Stories in Ibero-America will also take place in January, including the 2020 Gabo Awards finalists and a judge from the final round giving details about their work in the profession. Both events will be held virtually at no cost to the participants. If you wish to attend, you can register here.   

The Gabo Awards is possible thanks to the Gabo Foundation’s partnership with SURA and Bancolombia, with their subsidiaries in Latin America, and the Gabo Foundation’s partnership with the Mayor’s Office of Medellín. 

Below is a list of all the nominees for each category of the 2020 Gabo Awards, which can also be found on our website.  

Text

• “Almanegra,” (Black soul) published in El Malpensante. 

An in-depth profile of Magnolia polyhypsophylla, an unknown tree species that tells us about our relationship with plants and the plant world. 

• “Argelia Fellove es una dura,” (Argelia Fellove is a badass) published in El Estornudo de Cuba.

 A report featuring a poor black, lesbian woman who managed to revert her marginality and turn it into a social good from the male transformism in Cuba. 

• “EEUU: cuando la factura del hospital asusta más que el coronavirus,” (USA: when the hospital bill is scarier than the Coronavirus) published in Revista 5w.  

A report that investigates the systemic problems of the U.S. private healthcare system, which are impossible for poor, racialized, and undocumented people to afford. 

•  “El narcotraficante invisible: tras las huellas de Memo Fantasma,” (The Invisible Drug Trafficker: Following the footsteps of Memo Fantasma) published in Insight Crime.

An investigation of “Memo Fantasma,” a high-ranking Colombian drug trafficker who has escaped justice and lives quietly in Spain. 

• “El otro precio del níquel,” (The hidden price of nickel) published in YucaByte in Cuba.

A report that investigates and narrates the impact of nickel sulfide plus cobalt production on the lives of the inhabitants of a municipality in the Holguín province in Cuba. 

• “Hugo, historia de un corazón,” (Hugo, the story of a heart) published in the Spanish newspaper El Mundo. 

A report on the wait and heart transplant for Hugo, a 15-month-old boy. It is the story of a new life that is summarized in 19 staples, the most beautiful wound in the world. 

• “La penúltima batalla del Hospital Juárez,” (Hospital Juárez’s second to last battle) published in El País – América edition.

A report of the fight against the fear and fatigue of front line healthcare workers in Mexico. 

• “Operación Hermes: así se descongelaron las cuentas del Cártel de Sinaloa,” (Operation Hermes: this is how the Sinaloa Cartel’s accounts were unfrozen) published in Aristegui Noticias.  

An investigation that unveils the operation from the highest level of power in Mexico to unfreeze $500 million dollars for the main drug lords. 

• “Os Americanos,” (The Americans) published in Folha de S. Paulo.

Portrait of the Rust Belt, a region crucial in deciding whether the most controversial leader in U.S. history remains in the White House. 

• “Venezuela, o paraíso dos contrabandistas,” (Venezuela, a smugglers’ paradise) published in InfoAmazonia.

An International Alliance investigating the smuggling of gold from conflict regions in Venezuela. 

Image

“Defensores de la selva,” (Defenders of the forest) published in the Spanish newspaper El País. 

A report on the defenders of the forest and their struggle against the climate crisis in the Amazon. 

“GIG – A Uberização do Trabalho,” (GIG – the Uberization of Work) published in the Brazilian outlet Globo News.

A documentary about “uberization,” the precariousness of work, and the progress of the “gig economy” in Brazil and the world. 

“Las niñas suicidas de El Salvador,” (In El Salvador, violence is driving girls to kill themselves) published in Univisión Noticias Digital.

Bilingual multimedia special on the extreme violence suffered by girls and women in El Salvador and how it is leading to suicide. 

“Los objetivos militares del gobierno de Lucas García y los sobrevivientes de la masacre de Chisís,” (The military objectives of Luis García’s government and the Chisís massacre survivors) published in Plaza Pública de Guatemala.

A visual report in memory of the Ixil victims of the Chisís massacre, at the dawn of a new process for genocide. 

“Luces y sombras de Libia,” (Lights and shadows of Libya) published in the Spanish newspaper El País.

A project about the deadly passage to Europe taken by many refugees and migrants from Libya.  

“Migrar es tocar tierra,” (Migrating is touching down).

A piece of journalism that raises awareness about Venezuelan and Ecuadorian migration, in multimedia format with new narratives. 

“Recolectores de cuerpos,” (Body collectors) published in the Peruvian newspaper El Comercio. 

An audiovisual report that takes a night tour with those who collect the bodies of COVID-19 fatalities in Lima during the deadliest stage of the pandemic.

“Santuario, el inesperado refugio de las indígenas trans en Colombia,” (Santuario, the unexpected refuge of indigenous transgender women in Colombia) published by BBC Mundo.  

A documentary on how a conservative village became a shelter for a group of indigenous trans women in Colombia. 

“Sin condena en el infierno paraguayo,” (No condemnation in Paraguayan hell) published in the Paraguayan news outlet El Surtidor. 

A photographic and multimedia essay that mixes photographs, audio and original music, and describes the overcrowding in Paraguay’s prisons.

“Yazidíes después del exterminio,” (Yazidis after the extermination) published in Revista 5w.

A photographic essay on the Yazidi genocide that shows the past and present of a people condemned to oblivion in Iraq. 

Coverage

• “Canaima: el paraíso envenenado por el oro,” (Canaima: a paradise poisoned by gold) published in the Venezuelan news website Runrunes. 

An investigation that shows the impact of illegal mining in Venezuela’s Canaima National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

• “Comunidades intoxicadas,” (Poisoned communities) published in the El Salvadora newspaper La Prensa Gráfica.

A series of reports on the chronic kidney disease killing farmers on Central America’s Pacific coast and is being silenced by crop profits. 

• “Covid Photo Diaries,” published in the New York Times en Español.

Coverage of the state of alarm caused by COVID-19 in Spain by eight Spanish photojournalists in eight different regions of the country. 

• “El fallido combate al lavado de dinero en México,” (The failed fight against money laundering in Mexico) published in Spanish newspaper El País.

An investigation reveals that in 12 years of war against drugs in Mexico the government only achieved 16 sentences for money laundering: they were the last link in the powerful business. 

• “El trabajo de rastreo de la Quinta Brigada Nacional en el norte de Veracruz,” (The tracking done by the Fifth National Brigade in northern Veracruz) published in Mexican news outlet Mx.

A multimedia documentation that narrates the field work of the Fifth Brigade for the Search of Disappeared Persons in Veracruz, Mexico. 

• “Frontera Sur. La frontera desconocida de América,” (Southern border. America’s unknown border) published in Spanish newspaper El País and El Salvador’s El Faro.

A series of multimedia reports that travels to, explains, and tries to scrutinize the area connecting Mexico with Central America. 

• “La expansión del ‘gota a gota’ en América Latina,” (The growth of loan sharks in Latin America) published in Cali, Colombia’s newspaper El País.

An examination of the scourge condemning the poorest in Latin America to financial slavery through loans with drug money. 

• “Los explotadores del agua,” (The water exploiters) published in Mexicanos Contra La Corrupción y La Impunidad.

A series of reports investigating the purchase, sale, and exploitation of water through eight stories in seven Mexican states. 

• “Por dentro do fogo,” (Inside the Fire) published in Repórter Brasil. 

Research series on the “Day of Fire,” a fire organized by farmers and businessmen that devastated the Amazon in 2019. 

• “Tierra de resistentes” (Land of the resilient). 

A collaborative project involving 10 countries, 21 media outlets, 31 journalists, 29 reports, and a database with 2,367 attacks against environmental defenders in Latin America. 

Innovation

• “Arsenal global,” (Global arsenal) published in The Intercept Brasil.

Research tracing the origin of bullets in Rio de Janeiro after collecting cartridges from shootings in 27 neighborhoods in the metropolitan area.

• “Elas no Congresso,” (Women in Congress) published in the Brazilian magazine Azmina.

It is a project that uses public data from the Brazilian National Congress to monitor women’s rights in the legislature. 

• “El segundo a segundo del disparo que mató a Dilan Cruz,” (The second by second account of the shot that killed Dilan Cruz) published in Colombian news outlet Cerosetenta. 

This is the second-by-second reconstruction of the assassination of Dilan Cruz by a member of the Mobile Anti-Riot Squad in Colombia. 

• Funes: Un algoritmo contra la corrupción (Funes: The Anti-Corruption Algorithm) published in Ojo Público.

Funes is an algorithm that identifies the risk of corruption in public contracting in Peru, based on millions of data. 

• Proyecto Miroslava (Miroslava Project) 

A collaborative investigation revealing the gaps in the investigation of the murder of journalist Miroslava Breach in Chihuahua, Mexico. 

• Radar Aos Fatos (Straight to the facts) published in Aos Fatos.

Center of intelligence that analyzes misinformation on social networks in Brazil through a monitor that collects information from more than 90,000 online publications. 

• “Siete horas de angustia en La Modelo,” (Seven hours of anguish at La Modelo) published in Colombian news outlet Cerosetenta. 

Multimedia research on the La Modelo prison riot for Coronavirus that ended with the death of 24 prisoners in Bogotá, Colombia.

• “Testigos: las voces que hicieron sobrevivir a El Mozote,” (Witnesses: the voices that made El Mozote survive) published in El Salvador’s El Faro.

In four animations and a documentary, survivors narrate the Salvadorian civil war’s largest massacre and their fight against impunity. 

• TodosLosContratos.mx

A combination of massive data opening, journalistic narratives, and algorithmic data analyses that analyzes public contracts in Mexico. 

• XREY, published on Spotify.

A portrait of the unknown life of the King of Spain, Juan Carlos I, and the reasons why he decided to stop being king. 

About the Gabo Awards and the Gabo Festival 

They are convened by the Gabo Foundation, which, inspired by the ideas and work of Gabriel García Márquez, seeks to promote spaces for reflection and debate, and exalt ethical, rigorous, innovative, and public service journalism. 

The Gabo Awards and the Gabo Festival are possible thanks to the Gabo Foundation’s partnership with SURA and Bancolombia, with their subsidiaries in Latin America, and the Gabo Foundation’s partnership with the Mayor’s Office of Medellín. To keep up with news about these initiatives, follow us on these social networks: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.